


Love at Second Sight

by Doomkitty25



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Adam - Freeform, Alt!Alec, Alt!Magnus, Alternate Reality exploration, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angels done messed up, Asmodeus - Freeform, Battle Couple Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, But who's really behind all these shennanigans, Gabriel - Freeform, HEA!Alec, HEA!Magnus, M/M, Magnus Bane Is Quite Magical, Magnus Bane Needs A Hug, Magnus Bane and Alec Lightwood First Meet, Married Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Michael - Freeform, Multiple Universes, The universe is in danger guys, There will be realm/universe hopping, lillith - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:00:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 43,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22035958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doomkitty25/pseuds/Doomkitty25
Summary: Alec rolled out of bed almost before he was aware of the movement. Something was in his room. He pulled his blade from the sheath hanging on his bed, and had it against the neck of the intruder on his floor before he had even had a chance to take a breath. A muffled oomph had woken him up, and his reflexes had kicked in unconsciously. Demons didn’t wait for you to wake up when they gutted you.“Who are you?” He said fiercely at the man on the floor. What the hell, how had he got passed the wards on the house? Had to be a warlock thought Alec. Any other day he would have just slit his throat, but he held back.Dressed in a black silk pajama set, the man tried to look around, but Alec pushed the sword in closer drawing the smallest amount of blood.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 131
Kudos: 250





	1. Keep Changing Your Mind

**Homeworld**

**HEA!Magnus and Alec**

Alec leaned over and placed his hand on Magnus’ shoulder, concern tightening his features he gave his husband a slight shake. “Magnus?” Magnus came awake with a shout, sweat pouring off his face, and fear trembling through his body. Alec was up in an instant pulling him into his arms.

Magnus cried out and threw his arms around Alec with a fierce grip Magnus clung to him, and Alec slowly ran his hand up and down his back trying to soothe his fear. “Sweetheart, what happened?” Alec asked softly without pausing his soothing strokes.

“Bad dream.” Magnus mumbled into his bare chest.

Alec frowned. Magnus had bad dreams occasionally. He’d had one the week before in fact, but this was different. Magnus always woke up troubled after a bad dream, but this was literal fear. Alec could almost taste it, his husband was petrified. “Magnus?” He questioned him softly.

Magnus pulled back a little bit and looked into Alec’s eyes. “It wasn’t just that, but I can’t talk about it yet. I need a minute.” Magnus’ voice didn’t go above a whisper, almost as if he were afraid someone would hear him. Alec tensed, when Magnus shut down on him it was always bad. 

“Physically, do I need to look at anything? Call Cat?” Alec ran a soothing hand along the back of Magnus’ head and dropped his hand down to squeeze his husbands neck, disliking the tension in his body and doing his best to wipe it away.

Magnus shook his head. “No no, it’s fine, I’m fine, I need to process it.” Magnus pulled Alec’s hands around and held them tightly. “You go make some breakfast. I’ll figure out how to say what I need to say by the time you’re done.”

The last thing Alec wanted to do was get out of their bed, but he also wanted to respect Magnus’ needs, so he placed a kiss on their joined hands, another on Magnus’ forehead, and made his way into the kitchen to get the pancakes started.

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Magnus watched Alec walk away and barely restrained the need to cry out to him. The dream had been significantly more than a dream. He’d been dropped quite unceremoniously into another reality, and he knew he had the angels to blame, but he was floundering looking for a reason why. Angels did not give visions to warlocks. Period. Full stop. What made his hands tremble, and his heart pound was that he wasn’t quite sure if he was looking at the future or another reality. He hoped like hell, selfishly, that it was another reality. He thought it was, but he wasn’t completely certain. That uncertainty shattered him.

If there was even half a chance that was their future, Magnus could barely control the rage that threatened to explode out of him. They’d worked too damn hard for it to end like that.

Magnus crouched in their bed and viciously got control of himself. He didn’t know what the hell he was supposed to do, but he knew falling apart wasn’t going to solve anything. He crawled out of bed and got dressed, walking slowly into the kitchen and into his waiting husbands arms.

Halfway through breakfast he thought he finally had himself well enough in hand to speak to Alec about what he saw.

“Do you remember the night we met?” Magnus asked softly.

Alec arched a brow at him. The “Really Magnus” didn’t need to be said. 

Magnus rolled his eyes but couldn’t stop the serious weight in his tone. “The chaos that surrounded all of us before Valentine’s defeat, was like a ripple in a pond compared to the chaos I witnessed in my dream. Shadowhunter’s were all but wiped out, and the Downworld was barely holding back the tide. There were demons in every vision, and I could barely protect those I had under my care.” The agony on Alec’s face was a direct mirror to his own agony. His heart ached for the death he had witnessed.

Alec stood and pulled Magnus to the couch in the living room. “Tell me.”

“The vision came from the angels, but Alec they don’t….they don’t communicate with warlocks. I don’t know what I was looking at, and it’s not enough just to see it.” Magnus said despondently more confused than he had been in years.

“Was that all of it?” Alec picked up his soothing strokes from earlier, and Magnus gratefully pushed into his comforting hands.

“No. The second half of the vision was you.” Magnus took a deep breath. “You weren’t in our home, and when you crawled out of bed your Parabatai rune wasn’t there. You still had a few of your regular runes, but some of them were different.” Magnus wasn’t sure he wanted to tell Alec all of it, but his husband picked up on that reluctance and squeezed him. A clear command to continue.

“Obviously you didn’t have a wedding ring, but you had….” Magnus gasped as he felt a sob coming over him, surprised by the emotion he couldn’t hold back. The dream had clearly broken him he thought suppressing a shudder.

“I had what?” Alec demanded.

“You had a pair of cat eyes tattooed over your heart, a necklace with a ring on it not ours but something you never wore here, and Aku Cinta Kamu on your collar bone. You had others, but I couldn’t see everything because there were so many scars. You were scared so badly Alexander. I couldn’t keep the vision. I couldn’t bear it.” Alec wiped the tears from his face and kissed him softly.

“Sweetheart I’m fine. You’re fine. That’s not going to happen.”

“I think I was looking at other realities, but if I’m wrong....” Magnus said in a watery wobbly voice.

Alec looked thoughtful for a second. “Is there anything we can do to confirm the other realities?”

Magnus sniffed. “Maybe. I was going to speak with Cat. I really want it to be another reality, but I also can’t stand the thought of you hurting like that in any time or space.”

Alec frowned but looked thoughtful. “Magnus, I’m just guessing, but I’m pretty sure you were dead. It’s a miracle I was still walking at all. Without you and Jace, there’s a very real possibility I’d give up, so whatever Alec you were looking at has a spine of fucking steel.”

“But he was so, so empty.” Magnus threw his arms around Alec and squeezed as hard as he could.

“But he was still living, even if it’s a shit life, he’s still waking up every day. The angels showed you that for a reason. Let’s figure out what it was. The quicker we do this, the quicker they leave us the hell alone.”

Magnus nodded on his shoulder. “You’re right, as always Mr. Inquisitor. I love you.”

“You are the literal love of my life, and I’m not going to let this destroy us. We’ll get through it, and you’re going to be careful.” Alec demanded as Magnus stood and magicked himself presentable. All traces of vulnerability and tears long gone. He had his armor on and he was going to get answers. 

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“So a vision from an angel, I swear Magnus we can’t go a week without something blowing up around here.” Cat said as she sat beside him on her couch.

Magnus sighed, she wasn’t wrong. “So let’s lay out what we know about other realities.”

Cat ticked off her fingers, “They exist, they have versions of us, some have magic and some don’t, the Seelie can travel between them though not reliably, and if we fall into another reality we share a host body.”

Magnus stood abruptly and began to pace around the room. “And we know that too long in that reality means we can’t come back.” 

Cat made herself more comfortable on the couch. “I think I know how we can be certain your dreams are other realities and not our future.The Angels aren’t stupid, they do actually want you to solve this, so they would have given you something to work with. Focus on the feelings of difference, and tell me what you immediately bring to mind.”

Magnus went over every detail in his mind. He couldn’t shake the memory of Alec’s scars. His back, his arms, his legs, he’d had one along his stomach that looked fatal. “Scars. I can’t let go of the scars.” Magnus said rubbing his chin.

“Does Alec have any scars?” Cat asked quietly.

Hmmm Magnus hummed. “He’s got rune scars, they all do.” Pacing to the window he felt the realization dawn on him. “He has a scar on his thigh from Jace when they were kids. The Alec that got out of bed in my dream didn’t have that scar. We are absolutely dealing with other realities. Oh thank Lilith, well not that bitch, but you get my meaning.” Magnus waved his hand and drinks appeared for them both. Cat grinned at him.

“Okay so that’s one worry out of the way. Now what the hell am I supposed to do with that?”

“Well, they showed it to you for a reason. Looks like you’re going to be visiting with the Fae.”

“I hate everything.”

8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8

Alec and Magnus both bowed to the new queen. She was at least reasonable. 

“Viewing the other realities is of course possible. Finding the needle in the haystack that is the reality you seek...that’s far less likely.” Magnus watched as Alec rubbed a hand across his face. Both of them were frustrated.

“It would be far to easy for them to just tell us what we need.” Alec grumbled.

The queen walked before them on the path. “Stay the evening as our guests. I will call upon our sages. Perhaps they can give you advice, but angel matters are not something we’ve traditionally concerned ourselves with.”

“That is very generous of you majesty. We do appreciate your efforts.” Alec said graciously.

“As I said angel matters do not concern me, but the reality in question may suffer from something we should worry about. It would not do to avoid the answers to questions over something so trivial as Shadowhunter affairs. If there is danger of demon invasion, we should all be on guard.”

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**Demon Free World**

**Alt!Alec POV**

Alec rolled out of bed almost before he was aware of the movement. Something was in his room. He pulled his blade from the sheath hanging on his bed and had it against the neck of the intruder on his floor before he had even had a chance to take a breath. A muffled oomph had woken him up, and his reflexes had kicked in unconsciously. Demons didn’t wait for you to wake up when they gutted you.

“Who are you?” He said fiercely at the man on the floor. What the hell, how had he got passed the wards on the house? Had to be a warlock thought Alec. Any other day he would have just slit his throat, but he held back. 

Dressed in a black silk pajama set, the man tried to look around but Alec pushed the sword in closer drawing the smallest amount of blood. The intruder had black hair that was probably a Mohawk when he had it styled, dark eyes, and caramel skin. No obvious warlock mark. Alec shut down his thoughts when they started to drift toward how attractive the man was. It wouldn’t stop him from neutralizing the threat.

“Who are you?” He put more heat in his tone and leaned a little closer. A curious spicy scent tickled his nose making him rub the tattoo on his chest. It wasn’t a Shadowhunter rune, he shouldn’t feel anything from it but the minute he smelled whatever the hell that was his tattoos had begun to tingle. He'd gone to bed last night in his work out gear, but even through the shirt he could feel the slightest tingle along his collar bone and over his heart.

The man’s eyes went a little wider, and Alec realized he was barely awake, sleep still clung to him making him look softer than he probably wanted to look in front of a Nephilim. Didn’t matter. He could be a spy, even if Edom was no more, relaxing his guard was just stupid.

“Magnus Bane.” He said quietly, easily. 

Alec startled and felt his grip loose, lowering the blade by an inch. “Magnus Bane is dead.”

The man wrinkled his nose and Alec glared, it wasn’t cute...this man….wasn’t cute. And if he didn’t start talking he was going to be very dead. His bedroom floor had seen more than one dead warlock, he wasn’t shy about adding another one to it.

“Well that is most unfortunate, how did I die?” The warlock said nonchalantly.

Alec frowned. “Magnus and several warlocks sacrificed their lives three years ago to destroy the hell dimensions. They wiped out the demon threat, so that we have very little to do these days as Nephilim. Now, who the hell are you and what are you doing here?” Alec’s arms were getting tired, but he’d be damned if he gave an inch.

“And did you ever meet Magnus?” The man on the floor asked, completely ignoring his question.

“No.” Alec said shortly, and shifted his stance. Tired of the confusion and lack of answers, he was just giving the warlock time for his backup to come charging through the door. It was stupid to let himself be drawn into conversation. He couldn’t force his hand though. Despite how dangerous he could feel the man under his blade actually was.

Many warlocks were out for Nephilim blood these days. The demon threat had been eliminated, but that didn’t stop the Downworlder from fighting Shadowhunters. They were using Magnus’ sacrifice as a catalyst, saying the Nephilim had driven him to it and they needed to be punished. The fake Magnus lifted himself into a seated lotus position and pushed Alec’s blade away with a finger, but not before he twisted the ring on his left ring finger around. Alec glared what the hell. Had Magnus been married? Did he just like to wear a ring on that finger? Why had he turned it to hide it?

“Shadowhunter, I am not here to harm you. I know very little about what I’m doing here, I am a warlock. I am Magnus Bane. And I did not come here by choice. So rather than glare at me, gorgeous though you are, how about you have seat and lets talk this out?” Magnus gestured to the floor.

Alec continued to tower above him and glare, stiff with his indecision. “Why did you hide the ring?”

Magnus smiled at him, an odd reaction thought Alec. “Oh Angel, you never miss a beat do you?” He sighed.

Alec glared, the man was speaking like he knew him. What the actual hell.”What, and I really am tired of repeating myself, do you want?” He was growling at this point. Alec watched the man frown, and then sigh. He lifted his hands quickly twisting them and before Alec could shove his sword under his neck further, his magic had wrapped around him and Alec was sitting on the floor, absolutely fuming.

“Ok clearly you’re just as stubborn as ever. Do hush darling.” Magnus, fake Magnus, thought Alec was entirely too familiar with him. He rubbed his tattoo again, it wouldn’t stop tingling like his skin in those areas had gone to sleep. The man looked him over and then he looked around the room. “I’ve seen this room in my dreams, so I guess the other Magnus has my…” He trailed off and looked over at Alec. He sniffed. “Alright so we need to establish a baseline. Do you know that alternate realities exist?”

Alec struggled against whatever hold Magnus had him under. He should have just killed the bastard. “Yes,” He said sharply. “though they’re more the Seelie’s jurisdiction.”

“Yes exactly. I’m a Magnus from another world.” He said with a grin.

Alec stared. Was it possible? What was he doing here? Did that mean he was going to settle the Downworld down so the war could be avoided? Alec frustrated with all of the questions and not getting any answers, couldn’t help the shout that came out of him. “Aggh but what are you doing here?”

“Well I’m not entirely certain. Your angels have been giving me nightmares, and then I went to bed last night and woke up here.” Magnus released his hold on Alec and stood up. Alec didn’t charge him, but he wanted to. Magnus stood there and raised a condescending brow at him. “Are you going to behave and help me figure this out?”

Alec was reminded of his Parabatai and had to choke on his anger. Jace had been gone for so long, a deep ache built inside of him. God damn it. “I need a drink.” The warlock’s eyes lit up.

“Oh a man after my own heart.” He snapped his fingers and two glasses appeared. One looked like a martini and the other looked like one of Izzy’s red drinks. The warlock handed him the red one.

Like hell he was drinking that. He set it on his nightstand and walked into his kitchen. Grabbing his liter bottle of gentleman jack from the cabinet he poured three fingers into a glass and shot it, watching the warlock the whole time. It went down smooth and he welcomed the heat.

A dark brow arched in contemplation. “I do take requests darling, you only had to say.”

Alec rolled his eyes and poured more whiskey. Sipping it this time. “Say I believe you. How do you know it was angels? They don’t really….”

“Talk to warlocks. Yeah I’m well aware, and I’ve been in the presence of Angelic power before. It’s a pretty distinctive energy signature.” Magnus smirked, then waved his hands again. Before Alec’s eyes he was transformed. Black button down shirt with some grey designs, with a black vest and tight black pants. His hair was in fact a Mohawk, and he lined his eyes in black liner. Alec’s eyes went wide. “There much better. Now we need to…” Magnus trailed off and whirled around. Shoving Alec against the counter top behind him, he held his hands out and pushed out a magical barrier.

Alec grumbled, grabbing a kitchen knife from the counter, “I have wards. Are they worth nothing?”

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**Demon Infested World**

**Alt!Magnus POV**

Magnus woke up with a groan, then rolled quickly to his feet and called his magic forth. 

The air tasted of metal, it was heavy and magic exploded through him uncontrolled and without reservation. A grey cast shrouded everything around him, and a chill ran down his spine. He was on the first floor of some kind of warehouse for shipping it looked like. Not wanting to alert anyone to his presence, Magnus very quietly and deliberately cast a shroud and silence spell.

His team had been clearing the warehouse district of demons when he’d been blasted with a spell from one of the demon warlock thralls. Had they brought him here?

“Oh thank Christ you’re awake.” Came an unfamiliar voice behind him, Magnus whirled around and nearly collapsed to his knees.

“HOW, it’s not possible….” He said shakily. “You can’t possibly….”

“You know who I am?” The stranger asked excitedly.

Magnus shook his head and said slowly reverently. “A Nephilim.”

The man’s eyes went wide and then a little squinty. “Magnus do you know my name?”

Magnus stepped back confused. “No. How do you know mine?”

The Nephilim ran a hand through his dark hair. “Damn it, just perfect.” Before he could say anything else a group of shax demons dropped from the rafters. The man didn’t even blink, just raised his weapon and fired. His reflexes out stripped anything Magnus might be able to offer, and in minutes the demons were dead at their feet.

The man shifted closer to Magnus. “How many more are out there Magnus?”

Magnus let his sense drift out. He didn’t feel anything. “It’s clear around the building.”

“Great. What do you know about dimensional travel?” 


	2. Like Clouds in the Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HEA!Magnus and Alec have been ripped from their worlds. HEA!Magnus was sent to Alt!Alec's demon free world, and HEA!Alec was sent to Alt!Magnus' demon infested world. In this chapter they're all looking for answers.

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**Demon Infested World**

**HEA!Alec POV**

Alec leaned out of the warehouse door and took a quick look down the alley. They’d been clear five minutes ago, but in the time it took him to ask Magnus a question, more demons had appeared. “Where are they coming from?”

“There are a couple of nexus portals in the area. It was damn dangerous for me to be out this way in the first place, but Cat thought we might be able to salvage some materials from an old apothecary in the area.” Magnus tried to brush the dust off of his clothing, but it was a losing battle. Magnus, and Alec could hardly believe it, was dressed in a scuffed up Northface jacket and jeans that he’d further accessorized with a backpack. He basically looked like he’d just come from hiking in the mountains. 

Alec was barely keeping it together. Magnus’ clothes only reinforced just how far from home he was. Thank the Angel he wasn’t currently inhabiting another Shadow Hunter’s consciousness, he didn’t really want to think about what that meant. He missed his Magnus like hell. He missed his family. Angel only knew how the hell he’d even wound up here, and at the moment there was nothing he could do about getting back home. So he prioritized. Get this Magnus to safety and then ask for a favor.

Alec hummed as he shifted his body just slightly out the door and drew his bow. “I’m Alec by the way. If you were wondering.” Magnus had taken the news of him coming from another reality easily enough, but he’d never got around to telling him his name. Alec shifted so his quiver was a little easier to access. “So what were you looking for?”

“Don’t you need to concentrate?” Magnus said with a huff.

Alec flashed him a cheeky grin. “I’m good. It’s just a pack of Kuri. Not very smart even if they are mobile, as long as I stay here I should be able to get them all before they even figure out my position.” As Alec spoke, he fired four arrows. There were 8 in total, and the four dead caused the others to skitter back looking for the threat.

“Can I do anything?”

“Tell me what you need in the apothecary. Is it far?”

Alec felt Magnus tense beside him. “It’s not very far, about two blocks down from the way you’re facing. We really should head back though.” Magnus dropped down to his knees and peeked out the doorway as Alec fired two more arrows. Two left, and Alec was tracking the demons until they were closer. He wanted to have a look at something.

“Magnus, between the two of us, we can get what you need. You wouldn't have come out here if it wasn't important.” Alec said reassuringly while examining the light that was bouncing off of the Kuri demons. They should not be reflecting any light. So weird, he thought.

“We needed some basilisk bone and mandrake root.” Alec crouched down as the two remaining demons skittered into range. He quickly took them out and stepped out into the Alley.

“Good for blood clotting, inflammation, and cell growth for skin. You have some wounded warlocks to look after?” Alec asked casually as he dropped down next to the Kuri. Yeah weird he thought. Their legs were silver. Usually demon skin was red, black or something like it, and any insect husks were more of the same. Their outer limbs were tipped in silver. What the hell? He thought. So lost in his observations of the dead Kuri demon, he completely missed Magnus’ look of utter bafflement.

“You know what the potion ingredients properties are?”

“Yeah I mean you….” Alec caught himself. This Magnus had no idea who he was, and while he loved his husband and there wasn’t anything in the world he wouldn’t do for him, there was 0 way of knowing how this version of him would react to knowledge of their relationship. So Alec hedged. “I like to read. Anyway, apothecary.” He waved Magnus onward. ”On the way you can tell me what the hell is going on with the demons.”

Magnus moved closer to the wall of the Warehouse and kept to the shadows. “Nothing’s going on with them.” He said with an arched brow, and some confusion. Alec frowned, there was absolutely something going on with the demons. But, Magnus wasn’t lying to him, he genuinely didn’t see what the problem was. “Why don’t you tell me how you...a Shadowhunter….survived the destruction of the mortal instruments. Even in another reality, it seems strange that you could survive that.”

Alec stopped in his tracks. “The what now?”

Magnus looked over his shoulder. “We haven’t seen a Shadowhuter, anywhere, for the last 20 years. One of your former brethren, Valentine, used the mortal instruments and called for your Angel. After that, you were all gone. No one knows what happened.” He turned and began walking again. 

Alec was in a daze. Every Shadowhunter in this realm was gone. How was that even possible? Valentine wanted to destroy the Downworld, not the Nephilim? “How are you keeping the demons under control?” He asked incredulously.

Magnus walked faster in front of him, his body visibly tense and said, “we’re not.” Alec had never heard that kind of anger in Magnus. Demonic activity was probably through the roof, even the Nephilim had trouble containing the threat sometimes, and that was their full time job. Then it dawned on him. Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. If you wiped out the Shadowhunters, the Downworld would eventually be destroyed by demons. The Angel had granted Valentine’s wish. Fuck. He needed to think. He needed to…..he needed to protect this Magnus. He could figure out the rest later.

“But how are you…”

Magnus interrupted him. “Warlocks can only fight for so long. Our magic depletes. We have to conserve it for the higher demon waves. We can’t use angelic weapons, so that’s out, and at the end of the day Downworlder's were never a united society. So to answer your question, we’re alive, but that’s about all I can say.” 

Alec could tell Magnus was exhausted, and he could see the hopelessness on his face. It broke his heart. He hadn’t seen him look that lost since, well hell since he’d lost his magic. This was bad. He knew this Magnus wasn’t his, but he’d be damned if there wasn’t something he could do to help him. “Alright so this is clearly bigger than a simple conversation in what I now assume is enemy territory. Let’s get you to the apothecary and back to whatever base you have.”

Magnus let out a relieved sigh, and Alec felt his own anger rise up. Damn Valentine. Damn him to hell. Magnus pointed to the apothecary and Alec nodded his acknowledgement. “I’ll keep watch, you go in and get what you need. Can we portal back?”

Magnus rolled his eyes at him. “If I could have portaled I would have. Magic is unstable. It has been since the Mortal Instruments were destroyed. Portals are unpredictable. We can’t make use of them during a wave.” Magnus startled at something and swung around.

“More demons?” Alec asked.

Magnus nodded. “More demons.”

From above them, winged demons dropped from the clouds making screeching noises. Alec saw a woman further down the alley look up, cringe and turn around to run. What the hell? She was a mundane, wasn’t she?

Magnus saw the look on his face. “The barrier between the mundane and the Shadow World has fallen. They can see the demons.” Was all Magnus could get out before their attackers made the first pass. Alec felt one of the wings cut his cheek before he could side step. Damn he needed to get Magnus out of here.

“I’ll take care of it. Get what you need.” He shouted.

Magnus looked at him like he was stupid. “I’m not taking any chances.” Alec sighed. Okay the hard way it was.

### 8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8

**Demon Free World**

**HEA!Magnus**

Three warlocks lay on Alec’s floor and Magnus felt horrible about it. They weren’t dead, but it had been a near thing. He glared at Alec. “Want to tell me why Warlock’s are out for your blood?” He waved his hand and banished them to the Sahara. They’d wake up in plenty of time to portal themselves to safety.

Alec rolled his eyes and wiped off his blade, Magnus had pulled it from his room for him when the warlocks had attacked. He grabbed his drink and downed it. “They’ve been pissy since you died. I mean you chose to sacrifice yourself, but to hear your people talk about it, the Shadowhunters forced your hand. They’re using your death as a….”He shook his head.

“As an excuse to start a war.” Well shit thought Magnus. Was there no reality where politics weren’t complete bullshit. Magnus sighed. “We need to get to the Seelie Queen.”

“ _We_ , don’t need to do anything.” Alec pointed at Magnus, clearly indicating that was “a you thing, not a we thing” with his gesture. He put his glass in the sink and turned to head back into his bedroom. “I think it’s cool that you’re alive Bane, but I have actual work to do.” Alec stripped off his shirt, heedless of Magnus’ presence. He hadn’t really given Cat the whole story about this Alec. 

Scars (Magnus was almost positive some of them were self inflicted), burns, tattoos, and runes marked almost every inch of the man in front of him. His hair, instead of the glorious thick soft hair Magnus was accustomed to, was all gone. He’d cut it ridiculously short. His head wasn’t shaved, he had about half an inch of hair, it was a tragedy. This was an Alec that had been on the front lines without Jace. One that didn’t care if he lived or died, and Magnus could feel his heart break while also desperately wanting to wrap Alec in the softest blanket he could conjure.

“Oh we’re definitely going to see the Queen Alexander…”Magnus stopped speaking when Alec whirled around. His eyes wide and horrified.

“What did you call me?” His tone had dropped into menacing territory, like he was two seconds from pressing his blade against Magnus' throat again.

Magnus’ brow wrinkled. “Alexander. That is your name?” He supposed Maryse might have named him something else, no reason to get all offended though.

“Say it again.” He said brokenly, as he brought his hand up to rub across the pair of cat eyes over his heart.

“Alexander.”

“Fuck.” Alec said as he dropped to his knees, Magnus could see his hands shaking. “It’s you. I don’t... How can it be you…”

Magnus was beyond confused, but regardless of what reality he found himself in, a hurting Alec was not something he could endure. “Angel, what’s wrong?” Magnus had wondered how he got the tattoos if he’d never met this world’s Magnus, and he was rubbing them now like they were causing him pain. He’d rubbed them before, but Magnus hadn’t realized that was what he was doing. Desperately wanting to reach out, but sure he would be unwelcome, Magnus wrapped his arms around himself.

Alec looked up at him, his pain had quickly turned to anger, it heated his eyes and his response. “Nothing. It’s nothing. I’m not going with you.” Getting up he stomped to his dresser and jerked out a shirt yanking it over his head. Every move was deliberate, but filled with fury. He dropped his pants next and Magnus had to appreciate that this Alec had 0 shyness, but he was polite and turned his head away contemplatively.

What the hell had that been about? Magnus rubbed a hand across his face, heedless of his make-up. He wanted his husband. He wanted to know where he was, what he was doing, and more than anything if he was okay. The Seelie Queen was his best shot of figuring that out, but he couldn’t just abandon this Alec. The angels had deposited his ass here for a reason. With a sigh, he dug his heels in. “You’re going.”

“I don’t think you understand warlock. I’m not going anywhere…”

Magnus cut him off. “It’s cute that you think you have a choice. Some angel or other felt I needed to be here with your shitty attitude instead of in bed with my very own loving husband. I need to figure out what’s happening and the Seelie are the best option for that. You are going. Period.” Magnus snapped his finger and felt his magic drift out to make a portal. He double checked that Alec was dressed, and then shoved him through the portal, walking at a sedate pace behind him.

“This is kidnapping you actual psycho.” Alec shouted at him from the Seelie throne room floor.

“Yes well, I’m not actually from this shitty reality, so therefore I feel certain the charges won’t stick. Dead people are a difficult thing to pin down, vampires not withstanding.” Magnus said with a bite in Alec’s direction. Alec flipped him off. Oh boy this one was a little anger ball wasn’t he, thought Magnus.

“News of your death was greatly exaggerated I take it.” Came the childlike voice of the queen behind him.

Magnus turned. “Well shit.” He couldn’t help but say. It was the former queen of the Fae. Not the reasonable one. “Your Majesty, apologies.” He started out.

“Oh no need for that Magnus. I can see something has gone horribly wrong. You are not my Magnus.”

“Your Magnus?” he said a little incredulously. Her tinkling laughter caught him off guard. He’d never heard the viper laugh in his life, not a real laugh anyway.

“Oh dear, the Alice of your world must be something of a terror for that look to be on your face.” She folded her hands in front of her and Magnus blinked at what she was wearing. A pair of green hemp drawstring pants, an acorn brown crop top, and her hair was in an honest to god ponytail. It was official, he was in hell. This place was an actual hell dimension, and he must be under some kind of spell.

“So if I asked you for help, you’d say….” Magnus raised a brow and swiftly put a binding spell on the struggling Nephilim behind him. 

“I’d say, it’s in everyone’s best interest to make sure that you are out of this world as swiftly as possible.” She mirrored his brow raising and held up a hand. “Lina darling, will you please see to summoning the sages and a water mirror for our guest.” A smallish fae girl ran out of the room and Magnus was about to thank the queen when she put her hands on her hips. “I must insist that you release the Shadowhunter. They’re a little vindictive when pushed, and that one is practically royalty.”

Magnus rolled his eyes. “If you insist.” He released the binding spell and Alec was up in a snap with his blade to Magnus’ throat.

“Only morons forget to disarm their hostages.” Alec said furiously in his face.

Magnus kept his face without expression. “Yes well if I had really considered you a hostage, I would have acted accordingly. There is more going on than meets the eye Nephilim, and I’m going to need you to get on board. If I have to drag you along behind me I will do so, but it would be far better for this reality if you just fell in line. Move the sword and let me figure out what the hell is going on.” Magnus stared Alec down. He actively hated using this tone on that face, but priorities as his husband was so fond of saying. Alec didn't give an inch, nothing about him softened, but he cursed and removed the sword. Glaring the entire time. The sages walked into the room a moment later and Alec stepped back.

Another servant came in with a small table and a bowl with water in it. The sages motioned for Magnus to come stand beside the bowl. “You wish to see your realm? Or another?”

“I want to look at mine to see what’s happened in my absence. I may need to look at another realm, but I’m not sure yet. After I’d like to talk to you about Angel visions.”

The two sages nodded and had him place his hands on the rim of the bowl. They poured a few bottles of liquid into the water, and told him to focus on his home. He smiled and brought Alexander to the forefront of his mind. Then he felt the wash of magic pour over him, and the smile fell off of his face as pure agony shot through his body.

### 8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8

**Homeworld**

**Jace POV**

Jace pounded on the door harder. Neither Magnus or Alec were answering their phones and Izzy had sent him to the apartment to flush them out. He still had a key for emergencies, and he was going to beat Alec to within an inch of his life if he walked in on anything he didn’t want to see. They really weren’t going to answer he thought, what the hell? A small niggling worry began to build in his stomach. He could feel Alec, his parabatai rune wasn’t strained and he couldn’t sense pain. 

Using the key and walking into the apartment, he was still a little surprised to find it empty. He did a walk-through, and nothing looked obviously out of place. The bed wasn’t made which was a little bit odd, but nothing to freak out over. He pulled out his phone and called Izzy. “They’re not here.”

She cursed over the line. “Where the hell are they?” She muttered more rhetorically than anything, so Jace didn’t answer. He went back to the kitchen to check the coffee pot, but it was clean. Either they had coffee and Magnus cleaned the kitchen but not the bedroom, or they never made it this far before they left. Unusual.

“Where did they go yesterday?” He asked as he made his way to the coat closet to see if Alec’s gear was stored.

“The Seelie Queen. Magnus needed to talk to her about his dreams after he finished with Cat. Alec sent me a text and asked me to do a search and see if a warlock had ever reported visions from the angels.” He could hear Izzy typing through the phone.

“Well Alec’s gear is here, the kitchen is spotless, but the bedroom hasn’t been made up. Magnus and Alec are both sticklers for that sort of thing. So either they got dressed and left, or someone took them out of the bed.” Jace looked at the door. There were no obvious signs of a physical break in, he checked the balcony windows just in case.

“I’ll call Lorenzo and Cat. They need to check the place out to see if something magical happened. Sit tight brother.” She hung up before he could even agree, and he shoved his phone in his pocket. He was taking pictures of the plants on the balcony to compare them later, when Cat and Lorenzo portaled into the living room.

“Thanks for getting here so fast..” He said.

Lorenzo scoffed. “The Inquisitor and the High Warlock of Alicante go missing, you had better be quick.” He didn’t need to repeat the details he’d given Izzy knowing she would have relayed them. Cat walked to the kitchen and Lorenzo hit the bedroom.

“Ah” he said the minute he crossed the threshold. Cat was behind him in a moment.

“What?” Jace said behind the both of them.

“Angelic power signatures. Catarina did you feel the traces on him when you talked yesterday?” Lorenzo asked as he walked closer to the bed and waved his hands.

“No, he had no traces. Whatever this is, it didn’t happen before he went to the Seelie.” Cat waved her hands in time with Lorenzo. When they were done, magic covered the bed.

“What are you doing?” Jace asked with a huff. Magnus would have just bloody explained what he was doing without him having to ask.

“There it is!” Lorenzo said a little excitedly. He pointed his finger to something on the pillow.

Cat gasped.

“What?” Jace finally shouted.

Lorenzo turned slowly to him. “The Seelie Queen gave Magnus something, it’s that thing sitting on pillow.” Lorenzo and Cat's magic had uncovered what looked like a small tied herb satchel.

“Are you telling me the Seelie Queen is responsible for them disappearing.” Jace said menacingly. 

Cat put a hand on his arm in an attempt to calm him, “We don’t know the whole story Jace. We’ll send an envoy.”

“We’ll do a little bit more than that if she doesn’t tell me where the hell they are.” Jace said furiously as he whipped his phone out to call Luke. Lorenzo created a portal and the three of them were in Izzy's office looks of worry, determination, and anger greeting the head of the institute through her open office door.


	3. Love Me When You’re High

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HEA!Alec and Alt!Magnus fight demons and begin to head back home.  
> New players are introduced.  
> HEA!Magnus and Alt!Alec take a trip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to tag the location at the beginning of each section to try and keep it a little bit clearer which group the section is referring to.

### 8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8

**Demon Infested Realm**

**Alt!Magnus POV**

Magnus watched the Shadowhunter shoot the flying demons until none were left. He only had one arrow left, and Magnus reached out with his magic to brush across the quiver. There had been an enchantment on it at some point, never ending arrows he guessed, but it had faded. In the interest of keeping them both alive, he renewed it. 

Precious magic spent, but worth it if they got out of here intact. 

He ducked back into the apothecary digging around in the debris for the ingredients he needed. Their camp was in desperate need of healing supplies, Catarina could only do so much. They needed to conserve their magic, they were less than a week from another dark wave of higher demons. Shoving things in his backpack as he came across them, he barely noticed Alec step into the little shop.

“How long between demon waves?” The Shadowhunter asked all business. Magnus had to appreciate his proficient attitude. 

“5 to 10 minutes, sometimes more, sometimes less.” Magnus saw a ceremonial bowl and shoved that in a pocket, it could come in handy. The Shadowhunter was a godsend, but at the same time he worried what magic had brought him here, what forces were playing chess with his world? And what exactly was he going to say to his people when he brought back the enemy? They might not all react as he did. They were in this situation because of the Shadowhunters, but at the same time they were barely surviving. Shadowhunters were born and bred for this work, while his people 20 years later were struggling to even keep their heads above water. He could call Catarina and warn her, but he didn’t know what to say. "Hi Cat, I found us a Shadowhunter" and he could just imagine the incredulous look on her face. He needed time to think.

“And how far back to safety?”

“About an hour, without demons.” Magnus shoved his sleeve up and checked the time. Cat was more than likely worried. He would be over two hours passed check in, and his team had been separated. No telling what the hell had happened to the other warlocks. Hopefully they’d made it back to camp okay. Once you crossed the barrier into the city, cell service was spotty at best. When the veil had dropped and mundanes began to see the demons, they'd immediately gone to war. It was brutal. Some of the hellmouths, as they'd begun to call them, had been opened by mundanes trying to summon demons to fight demons. Their cities still had populations, but they were far more sparse. Magnus had heard horrible things about entire towns wiped out by a high demon wave. He and his group had been damn lucky.

Alec took off his quiver, raised a brow at the arrows and nodded in thanks. Magnus was even more confused. This Shadowhunter was unlike any he’d ever met. In their brief acquaintance, he’d been nothing but polite and gracious. The complete antithesis of any Nephilim he’d ever met. Alec dropped his bow and stripped off his jacket. Magnus wrinkled his nose. “What the hell are you doing?” Not that the man wasn’t absolutely beautiful, Nephilim almost always were, but getting naked in a demon zone was asinine.

Alec rolled his eyes as he slipped his shirt off. “Runes, I need to activate them if we’re going to get you back safe.” With that he pulled his stele out of his pants and began running it over the runes on his body, reaching around behind him to the ones on his back and Magnus realized why he’d stripped his clothes off. There wasn’t another Nephilim around to do it for him and clothes got in the way. Magnus had no idea what the runes were for, but he breathed a sigh of relief that they were actually working. And then pondered. The Shadowhunter had not once hesitated in Magnus’ presence, he was wholeheartedly on board with getting Magnus home safe. No questions asked. Was he just that altruistic? Or should Magnus be suspicious….

“Magic is unstable, you might want to keep that in mind.” He gave the warning with a shake of his head. Hell angelic magic might be perfectly stable. Who the hell knew it wasn’t like the angels were dropping down to fill them all in. Magnus grabbed a few more things while Alec dressed himself, and headed for the exit when he felt a surge of magic ripple through the shop. A rumbling quake that shook the very rafters above them.

Alec looked at Magnus questioningly, but Magnus shrugged he had no more idea of what this was than the Nephilim. They both headed out the door of the shop and looked up when darkness descended over them. “Magnus, what time is it?”

“Not time for the sun to go down. Shit.”

Complete darkness descended, Magnus could barely see Alec before him. “This is not good…” His words were cut off as the bricks in the wall started to tremble and explode. He and Alec ducked low to the ground and Alec whipped out a witchlight. The rumbling intensified and Magnus felt as if he were walking in an earthquake.

Alec led him beyond the store and they both came to a dead stop, fire engulfed the building across the street with a loud boom, and the oppressive darkness blanketed them so thoroughly that they could barely see the flames. Alec didn’t bother to say anything, just clamped a hand on Magnus’ arm and pulled him away from the sight. 

“Where’s the camp?” Alec asked as he made his way back towards the warehouse where Magnus had first woke up.

And there it was thought Magnus. Could he really trust this man? There was just something about him, but was he wrong? Alec stopped and looked over his shoulder. Magnus took a deep breath. “I trust you. I don’t know why but I do.”

Alec’s eyes went soft. He looked at Magnus with familiar eyes, a look he shouldn’t rationally have after only having just met each other. “I swear by Raziel, on my family, that I will protect you above all else.” Alec’s soft voice shifted something in Magnus, that was a vow, and Magnus felt it in his very essence. He hadn’t felt a spark of hope in such a very long time it was almost unrecognizable. It was easy then to lead Alec home.

### 8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8

**Somewhere out there:**

A man walked in the room and didn’t acknowledge anyone as he dropped into the winged back chair before the fire. He wore a pair of drawstring grey sweatpants, a large navy blue sweater that had seen better days, and his dark hair was in serious need of some attention. The blonde man seated at the head of the table rolled his eyes. “Gabriel, sullen as ever.”

“Michael, fuck you.” Said the grumpy dark haired man, not bothering to turn around and face his brother.

Michael snapped his fingers and a goblet appeared in his hands. They sat in a room reserved for war negotiations that had never bothered to move beyond the stone and marble grandiosity of ages past. His brother finally relented and turned the chair to face the war table. Michael smoothed a hand over his silk shirt, and ran a finger over the silver necklace he still wore after a millennia. “Will you not sit with me brother?” Michael asked patiently. Gabriel was a sullen bastard, he always had been, but he kept his temper in check. He was like a calm voice of reason amongst the chaos of their kind. When he wasn’t inciting them to riot over injustice, Gabriel was surprisingly good at deescalation. And Unlike himself, Michael knew he was quick to anger, he could trust that Gabriel would be good counsel in the days ahead. This situation with the Mortal instruments was dire.

“I have no interest in your war table brother. When do the others arrive?”

Michael ran a hand through his blonde curls, and settled back more comfortably in his chair. “Soon I should think, did you have trouble transporting the emissaries?”

Gabriel rolled his eyes, and replied sarcastically “hardly.”

As he was about to inquire as to their health, the door swung open and a dark haired dark skinned man strode through; arrogance would always be the first impression one took of Asmodeus thought Michael, and after that came the power. It weighted down the skin of all who stood in his presence. He couldn’t compete with Gabriel or Michael, but Asmodeus projected his power where as the other two were content with revealing it only when necessary.

“Ah brothers, I must admit I was surprised to receive your summons.” Asmodeus said as he sat himself across from Michael...at the table. Michael raised a brow at his other uncooperative brother in a “see this is how you be polite” look of admonishment. Gabriel flipped him off. Michael resisted the urge to hurl a dagger at his stupid brother’s face. He settled for straightening his cuffs and giving him a look of pure disdain.

Turning to the newcomer Michael was all smiles. “Asmodeus. Thank you for joining us on such short notice.”

“Yes well it is rare that you engage me at all, I am very curious what brought this on.”

Michael nodded. “We’ll go ahead, I am uncertain if Lillith will heed the call and Adam is going to be late.” With a sigh he waved his hand across the table so that a scene appeared for Asmodeus to review.

“It has come to our attention that two of the outer realms have created power vacuums. One has unlimited access to the hell dimensions, so much so that the mundanes can actively see the Shadow World. The other has been completely cut off from the hell dimensions, demons have been entirely eradicated, but the magic there is d...” Michael was interrupted as he was just about to explain how that put them all in jeopardy, Lillith swaggered up to the chair where Gabriel sat.

“Boys.” She said in her low sultry voice as she stroked a hand down Gabriel’s arm.

Michael saw Gabriel recoil from her in disgust, and then rise from the chair to join them at the table. “What’s going on?” She said reasonably as she perched herself on one of the vacant chairs at the table completely unruffled by Gabriels open dislike.

“If we don’t get this under control, we could…” He was interrupted again when the scene on the table shifted to Alexander Lightwood and Magnus Bane sleeping in their room several days ago.

“My Boys!” Asmodeus exclaimed delighted by seeing them in the reflection. He was a step away from clapping his hands. Michael rolled his eyes.

Gabriel huffed. “Only one of them is yours, and hardly that.” Leaning his head back against the chair, clearly already over this little gathering.

Asmodeus arched his brow, “Oh don’t be jealous, my counter parts do my son justice in almost every realm. Some are a little lackluster, but this one is one of the greats. And even I can tell the surly one clearly favors you.” Asmodeus said slyly. 

Gabriel’s head shot up and he glared fiercely. “Shut up. NO one asked you.” Clearly an old argument, one of which Michael was in no mood to suffer. Angels couldn’t sire children, not in the traditional sense, and Asmodeus was forever rubbing it in Gabriel’s face. 

“All of you shut up and focus!” Michael shouted.

“I was hardly doing anything.” Lilith said offended.

“And the lies have begun.” Came a voice from the shadows. The man stepped fully into the room, and Michael sighed with frustration. Tan skin, blue eyes, and light brown hair suited his grey slacks and white button down oxford shirt. He looked like a CEO, and not the warm and cuddly kind.

“Adam, thank you for joining us.” Michael said diplomatically.

“Yes well, you did say it was urgent.” He dropped into the chair beside Gabriel and patted his shoulder in acknowledgement. Gabriel just sat there, not bothering to return the greeting. Adam’s expression didn’t change but Michael could see the tightening around his eyes. The two of them were never going to be in a good place. Why the hell Adam was still pushing for it, he had no idea, it had been a millennia. Adam turned back to Michael. “So, what do you need?”

Lilith was about to open her mouth, but Michael cut her off. “The 103 realities that we’ve built are about to collapse and everyone in them along with it if we don’t do something.”

They all gaped at him; well, all of them but Gabriel. He already knew what was happening.

“That’s not possible!” Asmodeus shouted.

Michael stared him down. “If any version of you in the outer realms dies, you will not reabsorb that power. If they die for any reason, your essence will not reform. In fact, if any of the first divines dies during this crisis, they will not regenerate. Immortality is hereby suspended until we resolve this, the power vacuums from the two unstable realities will dissolve our souls.”

Asmodeus and Lilith both stood from the table furious. “What the fuck Michael? We made the realities to keep things stable and to equalize our power.” Lilith all but growled as she slammed her hands on the table. Red lips in a fierce frown and her eyes blazing with her fury. Michael couldn’t deny she was damn impressive. He was the premier general of the divine, and he wouldn’t touch her with a 10 foot pole. Adam had to of had a serious set of balls to get mixed up with her, Michael pushed the thoughts aside, and then almost dropped into his chair to put his head on the table at what came out of his supposedly diplomatic brother’s mouth next.

“So probably shouldn’t piss anyone off for at least a week then.” Gabriel said with a sneer in their direction. “It was nice knowing you.”

### 8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8

**Demon Free World:Fae Realm**

**Alt!Alec POV**

Alec watched Magnus’ face shift from horror stricken to grief stricken over and over again as he stared into the bowl of water. The sages were calmly watching as if nothing were happening, and the Fae Queen was chattering with her handmaid. The bowl of water looked more like mercury, liquid silver, than it did water, and it wasn’t reflecting Magnus’ visions so Alec had 0 idea of what he was actually seeing. It wasn’t good whatever it was.

Alec thought of his sister at the institute and grimaced. She’d be worried about him, but no more than usual. Alec often went weeks without contacting her or the institute, they all pretty much just let him go his own way. The death of a parabatai gave a Shadowhunter more freedom than he’d ever imagined. Pity had given him the ultimate out, even if he himself wasn’t officially out. The Clave knew, and they were happy to let him die in the field. As long as he didn’t infect his fellow Shadowhunters, they turned a blind eye to his preferences.

Alec had been in high demand before the cleansing, Magnus’ great sacrifice, as the Shadow World was calling it these days. Alec was a demon hunter, a Shadowhunter without a home, he was contracted by institutes around the world to hunt rural demons, or demons their teams couldn’t defeat. Izzy handled the contracts for him, but she hadn’t had a request for a demon hunt in over a month.

Since the cleansing, demon sightings were fewer and fewer. Here lately, the requests had been for him to bring in Downworlders, but Alec was quickly losing the stomach for it. He knew they were kicking up a fuss over Magnus. And perhaps rightly so. Alec hadn’t been part of the mission with Magnus, and given their history, there’s every chance the Clave could have forced Magnus’ hand. Ah Magnus, the real Magnus, had been dead for three years, and though he’d never met the man he’d heard of him. Often.

He had a reputation, and Alec wondered if the Magnus in front of him had the same reputation. No matter what institute, no matter what country, there was always a file on Magnus. In all the documentation, through all of his research, and he had researched him rather extensively; All the books knew that he was the son of a greater demon, yet no one knew what his warlock mark was. It had never been photographed, and no one he spoke with had been willing to say. What they did speak of was his character.

They said he was vicious and without conscious, if you crossed him he would take you out quicker than you could blink, he had no patience for crusades, and he loved his people fiercely. If you needed refuge you could always turn to him. Alec felt a resonance in him, that told him this Magnus was much the same, if maybe a bit softer. Though they didn’t share the same physical appearance. That had surprised him.

The Magnus of this world was taller, more wiry in his build, had a very nearly full beard, a more arched brow and fuller lips. The Magnus in front of him was a dancer, he moved with a fluid grace that came from years of physical training. The Magnus of his world, was a model. His body was for display, and Alec had never once responded to his image. Not like he had to the man before him. There was just something about him. Alec’s brow furrowed as he felt his tattoo tingle again. 

He remembered when Magnus had said his full name, Alexander. It nearly brought him to his knees. The sound of his voice triggered a memory from a dream, even though it wasn’t exactly the same. It was close. Closer than anything he’d ever heard before.

When Jace had died Alec had become horrifically ill, so much so that he’d been in the infirmary for days with a fever. His body was purging itself of the connection to his brother, and his mind had been full of chaos. In the middle of it all, when he thought he had lost his mind completely, he’d had a dream of a man.

Lying in his bed, forest green sheets surrounding him, a man had been snuggled up to his back. He’d leaned over and kissed Alec’s neck, with a gentle laugh he’d said “Alexander, get up.” A peace unlike anything Alec had ever before experienced in his life had engulfed him, and when he’d turned, he’d desperately wanted to see the man’s face. But in the dream, all he could make out was a pair of cat eyes. Then came the whispered words of love, over and over and over. 

He’d come out of the coma after 3 days, and the day he could stand and walk out of the institute he’d gone looking for a warlock. A bartender had sent him to a recluse in England. He’d begged the man to look at his dream, the image in his mind, and tattoo the eyes and words on him. The green skinned man had argued at first, but after seeing the images he’d agreed. Tying back his white hair, the man had used a traditional tattoo gun that he’d magiced into the room.

When it was over he’d simply told Alec to get out with sad eyes.

“Alexander!” Alec snapped out of his memory and looked at Magnus. The bowl had broken and the water had evaporated. Magnus wasn’t looking at him, he was staring in horror at the spilled water.

“What’s wrong?” He stepped a little closer, unable to hide his concern.

Magnus looked up, his eyes glazed with confusion before he too seemed to snap out of a memory. “Oh…” he was interrupted as the walls of the Faerie Queen’s throne room began to shake, vines shot up from the ground and an explosion rocked the floor beneath them. Alec stumbled forward and grabbed Magnus to steady him, both of them jerked around when they heard a high pitched scream. A scream that turned into a wail.

Lina was hysterical.

The Faerie Queen had fallen to the ground, blood pouring from her eyes, nose, and the corners of her mouth. She threw her hand up in the air and with her final breath, rasped “Magnus go.” A portal appeared. Magnus lunged toward it and Alec followed. 

The warlock stopped him with a hand on his chest. “If you come with me, you may never see home again.” Magnus warned.

Alec considered everything he was leaving behind. Izzy. 

He hadn’t seen Max since he was 2, and his mother hadn’t actively spoken to him in just as long. Izzy was his only tie to this world, and even their relationship was strained. He put her in a bad position with the Clave. Disappearing would more than likely ease her burden, even if she would miss the hell out of him. He looked at the warlock, and without knowing how he just knew he would understand, “Izzy...can you tell her.”

Magnus’ eyes went soft and he nodded. “Of course Shadowhunter.” With a wave of his hand, Izzy would be informed of his departure, and Alec had almost rock solid proof that this man knew him. In his world or reality or whatever, Magnus Bane knew Alexander Lightwood. That more than anything gave him comfort, eased the tension he'd felt since waking up to Magnus on his floor that morning. Not knowing who he was, not understanding what the hell was going on, being confused as hell something in him understood that this warlock would keep him safe or die trying. That same something said following this man would lead him to his destiny. He forced himself to follow the warlock through the portal.

Heat hit him first, the kind of heat you only felt in a desert. Dry. Suffocating. Coughing for breath he planted his feet to keep his balance. Molten sand surrounded him, wind whipped against his body, grains of sand ripped his skin. He tried to cover his face and look for Magnus but he could barely see in front of him. 

Magnus came up beside him and pulled Alec’s face into his neck, “My magic isn’t working here.” He said directly into Alec’s ear.

“Where is here?”

“I have no fucking clue.” Magnus said furiously, Alec didn’t bother to raise his head the relief from the sand falling into his mouth was too great. But, Magnus was taking off his vest and jostling his face. “Give me your sword, we need something to cover our faces.” Alec could hear him, but the words were muffled. They were standing in the middle of a damn sandstorm. No water. No food. No magic. They were fucked, thank you very much gut, thought Alec. Alec handed over the sword and watched Magnus skillfully cut the fabric into makeshift head wraps. 

Once their heads were covered Magnus turned towards the sun and started walking. Alec frowned. “Where are you going?”

Magnus looked over his shoulder and shouted through the sand. “My magic’s not working but I can feel magic that way.” He pointed toward the sun, the only thing they could really see in the storm of sand. It was as good a direction as any.

Alec took a deep breath and followed Magnus into the unknown.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Magnus in Alt!Alec's world is the Magnus from the movie, thought I'd throw in some Godfrey Gao ❤


	4. Leave Me When You Cry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunited and it feels so good 😉

### 8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8

**Demon Infested Realm**

**HEA!Alec**

Alec leaned against the wall of the warehouse office, and observed the people he knew so well in another world arguing over his presence. Raphael was the loudest detractor even if he spoke in one of the quietest voices. Luke didn’t even bother to stand, just sat in his chair calmly watching, more than a few glances at Alec but not even trying to keep the peace. When Raph and Magnus got going the what if game became all too real. Magnus’ eyes flashed in the light and it dawned on Alec that his eyes hadn’t been glamoured since he’d arrived here. This Magnus wasn’t afraid he marveled. Had he been raised differently, had he still experienced the trauma of his parents deaths? Alec paused, or had the disappearance of the Shadowhunters and the thin veil removed his reservations. Alec rubbed his forehead. He really wanted his husband.

He missed Magnus like hell even though he was standing right in front of him, he missed the look in his eyes and the feel of him right beside him. He didn’t know if Magnus was okay, and that made his hands shake as he tried to keep his anxiety under control. Magnus had said the vision he had was from the angels, but dammit he was about tired of being used as a pawn in their schemes. Magnus was everything to him, and not knowing was driving Alec mad. He could be dying, he could be....Alec cut himself off, it would do him no good to speculate. Magnus was a survivor and very resourceful.

He didn’t know what he was supposed to do, but it was in his best interest to get whatever was wrong here solved so he could focus on going home. So Alec focused. Assessing their situation was difficult as they wouldn’t stop arguing long enough for Alec to question them, but he’d picked up a few things. 20 years without Shadowhunters hadn’t taught them anything about the war against demons. He was quietly judging the hell out of them.

They’d made it to the base with no trouble, but the minute Alec had crossed the boundary into their haven he’d been a little horrified. This place was nothing but a demon attracting beacon. It was actually kind of interesting, academically anyway. Warlocks, wolves, vampires, and fae were used to keeping themselves safe from each other or Shadow hunters, not demons. Not really. They knew the Shadowhunters would take care of it, so they didn’t really bother to learn the nuances. Could they blow one up, shoot one, banish one, destroy one, yup they could do all of that; but the long term sustained war required strategy and dedication. Especially when the playing field had become a free for all. Not that they couldn’t learn, but they’d just never bothered.

The little base they’d set up in a warehouse had at least 200 people in it. Why they weren’t in the spiral Labyrinth he didn’t know, or some other defensible location, or what made this place special, he didn’t know. They’d created a communal area on the first floor, and it was a mix of warlocks, wolves and vampires. He hadn’t spotted a seelie yet. He’d seen warlocks tapping out on ward updates, and a makeshift training area in the back of the building.

He’d already tracked more than a few scouting demons, they either needed to secure this place or move somewhere more appropriate. Alec finally had enough from the arguing group, and stepped forward out of the shadows.”As much as I appreciate the defense of my character Magnus, I think I can take it from here.” Alec said firmly stepping up the table. Boy did this bring back memories. They were just missing Meliorn and the Queen.

Raphael turned sharply and sneered at him. “What could you possibly have to say?”

Alec didn’t let Raphael’s attitude bother him, he’d dealt with worse from his counterpart. “Well to begin with, I have some concerns about just how safe this place is. You do know that you’re surrounded on each side by demons scouting you right?” In his best serious business voice and giving them a look that he used on Jace regularly, Alec knew he had their attention.

Raphael’s eyes went wide and Luke finally decided to stand and join them. “And how do you know that, Shadowhunter?”

Alec shifted until he stood in parade rest, arms folded behind his back. “We walked through the barrier, you have 3 layers of wards that have overlapping energy signatures of at least 10 warlocks. The wards themselves are generic protection with a few slightly modified personalizations. They are all set up to protect what is in the barrier, not to discover what's beyond it. They require constant attention because you don’t have Angelic protections against the demons throwing themselves at your wards day and night.”

Magnus raised a brow, and Alec knew he was slightly impressed. “And how may I ask do you know so much of wards? Shadowhunters do not traditionally study ward magic.”

Alec relaxed his stance and sent a cheeky grin and a wink to his not husband, “you taught me.” He decided he’d get far less push back if they knew he knew them, and he would slip up eventually and out himself anyway, so it was better to get this out.

Magnus laughed, and shook his head a little bemused while Raphael glowered. “When were you going to tell us you knew Magnus?” He all but growled at Alec. 

“Now, now seemed like a really good time.” Alec said with a shrug.

Magnus leaned his hip against the table. “So you’re familiar with me, and on good enough terms that I was willing to teach you a thing or two. What exactly are you doing here? I think it’s about time you told us?” 

Alec ran a hand through his messy hair. What to tell them? Full open honest truth, or hold back. Technically he didn’t really know these people, but the part of him that considered them family wouldn’t really allow him to hold back too much. And lying to his husbands face was pretty damn difficult, even if he wasn’t really his husband. “I don’t know.” At Raphael’s outraged look he waved his hand to head him off. “Magnus was having visions, I guess is the best way to say it. He said they were Angelic in nature.” Alec saw all of their eyes pop open. 

“What were they, is Magnus okay, did the Angels take him in your world?” Luke asked with a worried glance at Magnus.

“Honestly we didn’t have enough time to figure it out before I wound up here.” Alec said regretfully.

“I still don’t trust you.” Raphael grouched, and Alec smiled at him. Raph looked bewildered.

“I’d honestly be concerned if you did.” Alec looked around. “So I have a question, what happened to the Shadowhunters?”

“What do you mean what happened?” Luke asked.

“Well did they all die, did they go poof? Did they turn into puddles of goo?” he used his hands to mime an explosion.

Magnus shook his head, “They vanished, one morning we woke up and the institutes were empty and the portals to Idris failed.” Alec put his hands on the table and leaned forward, out of the corner of his eye he noticed Magnus staring at him. Like he was waiting for something.

“What denoted a Shadowhunter?” 

Luke and Raphael looked confused, but Magnus seemed to be picking it up, because he looked guilty as hell. Luke asked “What do you mean?” 

“Well it clearly wasn’t all of the angel blooded because Magnus is here, and…” The room erupted into shouts. Luke yelling at Magnus, and Raphael shouting at Luke, and all three of them speaking over the other. Had they not known? “Hey,” He shouted commandingly above them all. “Settle down!” They all quieted down.

“You’re pretty good at that Alec.” Magnus said with an appraising look.

Alec rolled his eyes, “I’m more than a little used to managing the lot of you. Now, I apologize if I outed that you were the son of a greater demon. It wasn’t intentional.” 

“It’s alright, though I wonder exactly how it came to be that a Shadowhunter knows who my father is.” Magnus was looking at him speculatively, and Alec twisted his wedding ring on his finger to keep himself steady. It wouldn't really hurt anything for Magnus to know, but something was holding him back and he decided to trust his gut.

“It’s a long story. Anyway, if Magnus is here, what about the half bloods?”

“What half-bloods?” Raphael asked. 

Alec stared hard, “the half warlock half shadowhunters, the shadowhunters born without the sight, the humans born with sight. What was the line of demarcation that said this person disappears but this one doesn’t? Was it just the Nephilim that went through the runeing ceremony? Are the silent brothers still here? Who exactly disappeared?” Alec watched all of them look between each other in horror.

Luke winced. “We don’t actually know.”

“Why not?” Alec demanded.

“To be honest, the world rejoiced when the Circle was destroyed. A lot of people came out of hiding. It was perhaps six months before the demons got out of control, and years before the situation became what it is now.”

Alec growled and put his hands on his neck in an attempt to control his temper. “So the Circle beat the Clave. Well shit. That’s just great. Okay, we can work with this. Our top priority right now is keeping all of you safe, and then I’ll worry about how the hell I’m going to fix this and get home.” He silently wondered if there were some greater power at work here. The Magnus of his time would not have simply accepted the disappearance of Shadowhunters without researching it. Someone had to know what happened.

“Who says we want you to fix it, maybe we don’t want it fixed.” Raphael said petulantly, while the other two glared at him. But Alec was exhausted, and just the tiniest bit over it. It was well past midday and he was going to bed tonight without his husband, and with no idea when the hell he was going to see him again, and he was still cleaning up Clave-Circle bullshit. He had enough to do in his own world.

“Fair enough, I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me here, but I can protect you, I can make sure your people are safe, and so until further notice that is what I will be doing.”

“And what do you suggest Shadowhunter. I presume your earlier evaluation of our lack of defenses had a purpose.” Magnus pulled a glass from the middle of the table and filled it with water. Alec understood that things were bad when the warlocks weren’t conjuring drinks for themselves. They were taking the conservation of their magic seriously.

“First order of business is to keep your people safe. We need to make sure you’re in the most defensible position possible, and that you’re not draining yourselves constantly. It’s dangerous and ineffective.”

“No shit genius, if we had a better place don’t you think we would have already gone there? You can’t just waltz in here with your shiny angel powers and expect us to…”

Alec cut him off. “The institute, it has generations of demonic protections. The wards are tailored to demon protection. It’s the safest place for you. And while we go scout it out, you can tell me what the hell is wrong with the Spiral Labyrinth.” 

A look of pure pain tightened Magnus’ face. Raphael still grumpy as ever just had to respond with his ever positive up beat charm, “and just how the hell are we supposed to get in?”

“Raphael, charming as ever.” Alec said with a sigh and dropped into one of the chairs. “Obviously me, I can get you in.”

“You think you can just waltz right up to the doors and figure out how to open them?” Raphael wasn’t letting it go, and Alec knew he was going to have to give them something.It probably wouldn’t hurt anything to tell them who he was, but he was still keeping his marriage to Magnus a secret. That niggling little feeling in his stomach wouldn't go away. He didn’t want to share just how much being separated from him hurt, and if they pushed and prodded he wasn’t sure how he’d hold it together. 50/50 shot he’d probably break down in the middle of the room and bawl.

Alec raised his brow and looked down his nose, sarcasm dripping from his tone, “Well yeah. I’d hope so. I’m the Inquisitor. I was also the head of that institute for years. I can get us in.” He sipped his drink and watched Raphael glower. Luke and Magnus both laughed and Alec twisted his ring, hoping like hell his Magnus was okay.

### 8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8

**Somewhere out there:**

Michael dropped onto the couch next to his brother, sprawled out as he was he had to shove his legs over. “That went better than I expected.” 

Gabriel grunted. “You figure out the target yet?”

Michael swore. Trust his brother to not mince words and strike where it hurt. He wasn’t going to like this, “I think it’s me.” 

Gabriel sat up slowly and turned his fierce glower on his brother, Michael couldn’t help but shiver. He might lead God’s armies as his right hand, but Gabriel was his left hand for a reason. The look on his face promised murder. “Explain,” he said menacingly.

Michael settled back into the couch and pulled his brother back with him. “I went to the fates. They are as concerned as we are with the power vacuum. When prodded, they admitted they were experiencing voids in their visions.”

Gabriel sprawled out again with a curse and folded his arms across his chest. “How does that equate to you?”

Michael leaned closer to his brother and ran a hand across the back of his head, squeezing his neck for comfort, and conjured two glasses of whiskey. Gabriel perked up at the alcohol and sat up to take the glass. Knee to knee they both knocked back their drinks.

“I think Adam is making his move, and for him to get what he wants, I have to be out of his way.” Michael refilled their glasses and shifted back so he was as sprawled as Gabriel was earlier. “I think he’s the one that fucked with Valentine’s wish, and the one that killed Magnus.”

Gabriel bit his lip and looked at his brother under his lashes, “I could take care of this.”

Michael kicked his leg. “You know damn well God forbade you from killing him, and with reason. His death unmakes mankind. We just have to be smarter than him, and speaking of, how’re the boys?” 

“Magnus is currently stomping through sand, he’s close to the altar though so things are going about like I expected. Alexander is busy trying to save everyone, per usual.” Gabriel said with a self deprecating laugh. “Why this convoluted mess Michael? Why can’t we just….”

“Kill Adam?” Michael hung his head. “Yeah this shit would be a hell of a lot simpler if I could just put him down, but you know we can’t. It’s not an option so let it go.” 

Gabriel stood up and walked to the window. They were in a tower in a world that the divines had destroyed in the first Millennia. No one knew this place existed any longer and Michael wanted to keep it that way, it was their refuge. They used it frequently to get away from the bullshit. “Why bring the other two in, Lilith and Asmodeus, they clearly have no idea what’s going on.”

Michael nodded, “Yeah but they’re just ambitious enough to want to be involved. They’ll ruffle feathers and someone will make a mistake. And Lilith hates Adam, probably as much if not more than you do. He was a son of a bitch, then and he's gotten no better as time has gone on. His efforts with you do interest me though, you'd think after all this time he'd give up on your affections.”

Gabriel nodded without turning back to Michael, he just gazed out at the ruined landscape of this world; and Michael couldn’t help but think he was the picture of dark grace. He’d never loved another soul as he loved his brother, and he’d be damned if he let the sniveling little brat that God created tear him apart. Gabriel suffered, he suffered at the hand of God carrying out his demands. Michael knew if Adam succeeded, the minute Michael drew his last breath, his brother would become the destroyer of worlds. He wondered silently if that was Adam's goal all along.

### 8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8

**Unknown Location**

**HEA!Magnus POV**

“I am not dressed for this.” Magnus complained his voice muffled through the head wrap, as he shimmied to get the sand out of his shirt which he knew would do no good with the storm, but damn it was uncomfortable. Alec stumbled in the sand, but didn’t lose his grip on Magnus’ arm. Visibility was low, so they held onto one another to make sure they didn’t get separated in the sand. Alec whirled around at his comment and glared, shaking Magnus in admonishment.

“Could you be serious, we are actually fucked right now.” Alec growled.

Magnus stopped dead in the sand and jerked his arm out of Alec’s grip. “Enough.” He shouted. They’d been trudging through the desert for hours. They were both exhausted, thirsty, hungry and very nearly at the end of their ropes. Magnus had lost all patience for this Shadowhunter. He might have his husbands face, but he certainly didn’t have his compassion. “I am beyond tired of your anger, I’ve done nothing to deserve it.”

Alec straightened himself until he towered over Magnus, but Magnus was far from intimidated. This man didn’t know how to carry the weight of command, not like his husband did. This was like meeting Alec before he'd become head of the institute, when he was a baby in Maryse's arms. “We are stuck in the middle of the damned desert.”

“You think I’m not aware of that. You think I don’t know just how screwed we are.” Magnus shouted in return. 

“Well we’re following whatever sense of magic you have, but we have no way of knowing if you’re useless feeling is even going to help us.” Alec leaned down until he was directly in Magnus’ face, and Magnus wasn’t proud of himself, but he lost his temper.

“Alexander Gideon Lightwood, I have had about enough of you.” Magnus felt the power well inside of himself, it wasn’t his power, it was the power he was following. Unable to control it, the power erupted from him and he felt the earth shake. Alec’s eyes went wide, and Magnus felt a moment of horror at what he’d done when the ground below them shifted and they fell. His body slammed into rocks, and then slid into darkness. He couldn’t see Alec, he couldn’t really see anything. Sand coated his mouth, his clothes, and his skin was on fire from scraping against the rocks.

Magnus lay on the ground with his hands over his head waiting for the debris to settle and bemoaning this horrid experience. He ached everywhere, he was never going to get the sand out of places it very clearly didn't need to be and he was dying of thirst. Feeling very sorry for himself he lay there far longer than he needed to. When he finally felt up to it, he lifted his head to look for Alec. Above him the midday sun was illuminating the dark cavern they’d fallen in, and before him Alec lay crumpled on the floor a few feet away. Magnus scrambled over to him, and was relieved to see his chest moving. Breath was a good sign. Alec didn’t wait for him to check him over, he rose from the ground in a battle ready crouch, looking around frantically sword held before him.

Magnus sighed, “I’m sorry.” Alec ignored him with a pointed glare, and stood fully turning his back, and Magnus wanted to smack him. Hello childish Alec, welcome to the party he thought. In fact it was very reminiscent of something Jace would do. That made Magnus roll his eyes. “Hey.”

Alec swung around until he faced Magnus. They were in some sort of cavern, so the sand was no longer whirling around them and they didn’t have to shout to be heard. Alec jerked a pointed finger in his direction, “You know me.” His voice carried his anger and in his eyes Magnus could see the hurt. They weren't connected, not in the way that he and his Alec were, but he still felt some responsibility to this man that shared his husband's face. Magnus sighed. 

“What of it?” Magnus knew his husband, and as much as this man wasn’t him, he was. And he knew that telling him that they were married in another reality would send him into a tailspin of denial. Honesty was best achieved slowly in this case, or just waiting until he figured it out. 

“Why didn’t you tell me!” Alec shouted. “What else aren’t you telling me?”

Magnus huffed out a breath waved his arm in the air nonchalantly. “There is a great deal I'm not telling you, to be honest we've barely had the time.” He crossed his arms over his chest and began walking. It was better for both of them if they kept moving. Alec slumped his posture resigned and almost defeated, and followed along behind Magnus.

“We have time now, tell me, please.” Alec asked softly.

Magnus was defeated, he couldn’t deny him, not when he said please so softly and beseechingly, so he begrudgingly revealed, “I was the High Warlock of Brooklyn and you were the head of the New York Institute. Of course I know you.” There, that was more than enough to satisfy.

“You say my name like,” Alec rubbed his chest again and Magnus again wondered what the hell that was, “like you know me….really well.” Alec hesitated and Magnus wanted to cry. Alec was baffled that someone could know him so well, that someone would want to. That tone of voice, he'd heard it before when Alec felt like he was worthless and hated himself. This was the man his husband had become without Jace, without him, and without his families full support. It broke his fucking heart. Magnus looked up and cursed the angels, he’d be damned if he’d let this man go on like this. If that other Magnus was without an Alexander he was by god going to bring the two of them together. There couldn’t be a universe were the two of them weren’t compatible, and he'd make damn sure this Alec's suffering was short lived. Priorities. Get back to his husband. Fix his husbands doppelganger.

He nodded to Alec and smiled as gently as he was able, “I do know you really well. In my world, between all of us, downworlders and Shadowhunters we brought down Valentine without sacrificing anyone. It wasn’t smooth or perfect, but we managed.” He glanced to the side and saw a look of confusion on Alec’s face, followed by disbelief and then wonder. 

“That’s amazing.” He said amazed.

Magnus winced, he probably shouldn’t ask, but he really wanted to know. “What happened to Jace?” 

Alec shut down. His face went blank, and his eyes went hard. “He’s dead.”

Magnus kicked some rocks out of the way and said matter of factly, “I gathered, your parabatai rune is gone.”

That startled Alec, “You’ve seen my parabatai rune?”

Magnus laughed, “Darling you do like to run around the institute without a shirt, yes of course I’ve seen it.” He watched the Shadowhunter try to make sense of a world where his parabatai was alive.

“Jace is alive.” He said with such fierce heartache and a squeeze to his side where his rune used to be, that Magnus desperately wanted to stop and hug him, but he didn’t. Alec wrapped his arms around himself in an effort to control his feelings, he shared that trait with his husband. 

They walked along in silence for a bit, both of them absorbed in their thoughts when Magnus paused, the feeling of magic became deafening. And really, he should have recognized it before, but it was definitely angelic in nature. Sort of. Mostly. There was something else there he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He held his hand up and to stop Alec. “here.” He looked around and could vaguely see a light coming from a cave to their right. He led Alec through the opening, and they both gasped upon seeing what was before them.

12 large marble columns flanked a glowing altar in the back of the room. The floor itself was marble, but a pathway led toward the altar and Magnus was wonderstruck. Angelic and demonic runes lined each side of the path. Every other column had a brazier for fire, and the steps up to the altar were flanked by two Griffins. 

“What is this place?” Alec whispered reverently.

Weapons of every kind were stacked against the walls covered in dust, but what Magnus couldn’t look away from what held his attention so raptly that he barely heard Alec’s question, was a statue behind the altar. It was an angel, carved in stone, beautiful wings spread wide holding a sword planted in the earth and armor unlike anything Magnus had ever seen on his body. It was a beautiful marble sculpture, barely touched by age, and Magnus wanted to scream. On top of the angels head nestled in curls, sat a pair of horns. Magnus had never seen an angel with horns, not that he’d seen a great many of them, but it went against every image that had ever been depicted of angels. Once they fell yes, but a winged angel with horns was absolutely unheard of. “I have no idea.” He finally tuned back in.

“Does that angel have….”

“Yes, yes it does.” Magnus walked forward.

“Can you read the?” Magnus waved his hands to shut him up. This was, he could feel something in here, something calling to him. The magic was pulling him forward toward the altar. Magnus walked down the path and felt the presence of time, he felt the history of this place wrap around him.

When he reached the steps he was almost afraid to put his foot on them, was it blasphemous for a warlock to tread upon angel relics? He tentatively placed his foot on the first step, and watched Alec do the same. Each step closer to the altar brought more and more magic, Magnus could feel it gushing down the steps over and around him. The altar was glowing, lighting up the room, but not so well that they had been able to see what was behind the horned angel. Behind him and to the left was another angel. This one had wings like a bat and claw like fingers with a fucking halo over his head, and Magnus wanted to drop to his knees. The clawed hand was resting on the shoulder of the horned Angel. Who in the hell were these two and why had Magnus never heard of them.

The altar pulsed with power and Magnus took another step closer, but Alec quickly stepped in front of him. “We don’t know if this is safe.”

Magnus shoved him to the side, “No but we don’t really have a choice. And I’ll be damned if I don’t try to get back to my husband, so get out of my way.” Magnus wasted no time in placing his hands on the altar. He heard a mysterious laugh in his mind, and the words “the two of them really are ridiculous.” Then his eyes were consumed by the vision before him.

A circle was drawn, and inside of it lay a scroll, a lily, a lantern and a series of runes, some he recognized and some he didn’t. On one side of the circle a Shadowhunter stood holding the hand of a white skinned white haired warlock the words spoken drifted through Magnus’ mind. “I summon Gabriel, God’s messenger and left hand.” More words were spoken and Magnus knew he was meant to memorize the passage. The vision faded and he did fall to his knees, Alec grabbed him before he fell backwards down the stairs. 

“What the hell was that?” he asked looking around.

Magnus gasped, magic flowing through him once again not his own but he knew its purpose. Throwing his hand out he manifested a portal and almost broke into giddy tears. On the other side, through the purple murk he could just make out Alexander. How he knew this one was his, he had no idea, but he knew if he walked through that he’d be in his husbands arms and this hellacious separation would be over. Wasting no time he grabbed Alec’s jacket and began to tug him toward the portal. Alec sighed in clear frustration, but dutifully followed him through.

Magnus ran at full tilt “Alexander!” He shouted and watched his husband’s eyes go wide. He dropped his bow and let Magnus’ slam into him. His arms came around Magnus and something in him shifted. The world was right again. His magic was thrumming through him and his husband was in his arms, it was like balance had been restored to the universe. Alec lifted him off of his feet and Magnus wasted no time wrapping his legs around his husbands waist. 

“Missed you.” Alec said into his neck where he’d been taking deep breaths. “Missed you so much.”

Magnus had his arms wrapped around Alec’s neck but he kissed his husbands cheek, his eyebrows, his eye lids and laughed “Oh Angel I missed you more, I promise.” Then he kissed him. It had only been a day but damn did it feel like he hadn’t seen him in years. The distance that had separated them had felt like time and worlds. It was hell. 

Alec pulled back from the kiss. “You’re okay, you’re not hurt are you. Magnus I was so worried.” Alec breathed into him and started running his hands over Magnus’ back looking for injuries.

“I’m fine darling, I promise. What about you? You’ve dropped your bow are…”

“EXCUSE ME!” Came a shout from behind them and Magnus rolled his eyes.

Alec’s eyes went wide as he looked over Magnus’ shoulder. Magnus laid his head down on Alec’s shoulder, “I declare him your problem now. Do you have any idea how obnoxious you are? I love you Angel, but damn.”


	5. I know It All, It Takes Time

###  **8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8**

**Homeworld:**

**Jace POV**

Jace marched down the hall to the Fae Queen’s throne room. He was furious and if he was being honest with himself, he was also terrified. Magnus and Alec had been gone for well over 12 hours, and the Fae Queen had been pushing back against speaking with them. Izzy had finally gotten them an audience, and Jace had thrown a full on tantrum when she’d tried to tell him he couldn’t go. Clary had pushed between them, and now they were two steps away from either starting a war or finding his brother. In Jace’s mind there would be no other outcome. Clary and Izzy might see it differently, but Jace wasn’t even remotely playing.

Clary was on his left and Izzy was on his right when they finally stepped into the throne room. To Jace’s surprise, the queen stood from her throne and quickly met them in the middle of the room. “Shadowhunters, please follow me?”

Jace quirked his brow. “What’s going on?”

The queen looked over her shoulder, “honestly I have no idea, but I’m hoping we can figure it out.”

Jace paused and turned to Izzy a clear question in his gaze. Izzy frowned but shrugged and motioned for him to follow. Jace felt his anger slow down to a slow simmer as he took off after the little Fae woman. The queen led them through hallway after hallway, then outside down several paths through gardens that were shifting through the seasons. A summer garden, a winter garden, a spring garden, and after half an hour of walking Jace was beginning to get annoyed. Trudging through the gardens wasn’t getting his brother back. “Where the hell are we going?”

The queen didn’t pause her steps, “there’s a tree at the heart of our realm. It’s been dead since well before the oldest Fae here even remembers.” She stepped through an archway and Jace jogged to keep up with her. “The reason it took me so long to get back with you about Magnus and Alec is because the tree came alive not long after you reported them missing.”

“What does that mean? What’s so significant about the tree?” Clary asked.

The queen didn’t even pause, “We have absolutely no idea. There are no documents, no recorded histories, nothing in our libraries about the tree. I’ve reached out to every warlock I know, the spiral labyrinth, everyone I could imagine that might have an inkling.” She lifted her skirts and walked up a small hill. Jace kept close and as they made it to the top he had to hold in a gasp. 

In the center of the garden was the biggest tree he’d ever seen in his life. Ten people could stand around it holding hands it was so large. The bark was so dark it was almost black, leaves of gold, silver, and copper hung from the heavy branches. But the thing that Jace couldn’t look away from was the blue lights swirling around the trunk into the ground. “You’re telling me that thing just came back to life?”

The queen shook her head. “I can’t explain it. The tree was a twig, it was a dead twig, it has always been here. In fact I think one of my predecessors attempted to remove it, but the magic in our land forbade it. This morning the druids came to tend the flowers and it was here. Like this.”

“Did you ask the silent brothers? Have you contacted Alicante? Shadowhunters may have lore on the tree.” Izzy walked closer to the tree, but Jace grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

She jerked herself out of his grasp, but he turned on her. “Izzy we don’t know what the hell that magic is, so we should maybe hold off. None of this gets us closer to Alec and Magnus. While I appreciate that this is weird, what the hell happened to my brother and his husband?”

The queen nodded. “Magnus and Alec were here about the visions from the angels, but we couldn’t determine exactly which realities Magnus was seeing. I gave them a dimension crystal that Magnus could use to view different realities in hopes of finding what he was looking for, and then they went home.”

Jace put his hands on his hips and glowered, “That can’t be everything.”

Clary put her hand on Jace’s arm, “Jace she’s telling the truth, and she’s being about as direct as a fae can be.”

Jace jerked out of Clary’s arm and turned away from them, he ran a hand over his steele and tried to calm down. He heard Izzy gasp and he turned around. The tree didn’t have little blue floaties anymore, it was lit up like a damn beacon. Jace leaned toward it instinctively, tension in every line of his body. Something was up, he could feel it.

Clary stepped toward the tree and Jace followed her. “Do you feel it?” She asked softly.

Jace nodded as he stood shoulder to shoulder with her, “Your majesty?”

The queen didn’t answer his unspoken WTH question, she moved closer to the tree. “I think it’s responding to your angel blood. We need to get you all out of here? Something has woken up in my realm, and until I know exactly what this is I’m quarantining the area.” She swung around and pushed the shadowhunters out of the garden.

Jace looked back over his shoulder and watched the blue lights drift toward them as they left. What the hell had Magnus and Alec stepped into? What had they woken up?

### 8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8

**Demon Infested World:**

**Alt!Alec POV**

Alec had known Magnus for a day. A single day. In that time he’d been pulled through multiple portals with no idea what was on the other side, but never in his wildest thoughts would he have imagined that he would see himself, another him, desperately wrapped around Magnus. It dawned on him as he shouted at them, that the husband Magnus had spoken so fondly of was….him. Alec glared and stomped closer to the hugging couple. He should have damn well said something. “This isn’t something you think you should have mentioned?” Alec all but snarled at the warlock.

The man wearing his face went very still and lifted his head slowly from Magnus’ shoulder. Alec recognized that look, he wore it when he was killing things, so it was no coincidence that his hand dropped to his weapon. Before he could say something Magnus leaned up and kissed the other guys cheek with no hesitation. “Darling let it go, we’re both exhausted. We have not had an easy time of it.” Magnus said soothingly. His husband raised a dark brow his expression clearly indicating he wasn’t going to entirely let it go, but turned a gentle look toward Magnus and removed his hand from his weapon.

“That’s no excuse for rudeness, he shouldn’t speak to you that way.” Alec wondered about the man’s tone. It was almost like he thought Alec was abusing Magnus in some way rather than just being furious that Magnus hadn’t told him everything. 

“Perhaps not.” Magnus ran a soothing hand down his husband’s arm. Other Alec pulled Magnus into a hug and if Alec wasn’t mistaken he sniffed the warlock’s hair, then kissed his forehead. This was so bizarre, they were unlike anything he’d ever seen. He could honestly say he’d never seen a Shadowhunter with that look before, he was entirely besotted; and Alec was damn sure he’d never had that look on his own face. But then other Alec seemed to be able to shift between his two selves like a chameleon, because one minute he was soft looking at Magnus and the next his expression had hardened into that of a general.

“So what happened?” He said it commandingly, like he was some sort of authority figure and Alec’s immediate gut reaction was to answer the command in his tone, but he shook off the reflex. Alec had spent the past 8 years pushing back against his knee jerk reaction to command. 

Alec noticed that Magnus’ husband might bark out commands like he expected everyone to fall in line, but he was worried about his husband more than he cared about the actual response. Even as he asked, the other Alec was carefully looking over Magnus for any injuries, ignoring Magnus’ earlier assertion that he was fine, and making hurt noises as he came across bruises.

Alec pondered that closely. Here was a Shadowhunter that appeared far more interested in the well being of his husband than he did in something that potentially affected the Clave. And speaking of that, he had a fucking husband. Alec couldn’t believe it had taken him this long to realize that this Shadowhunter had somehow married a god damned warlock. Zoning out on the colorful explanation of their “adventure” as Magnus was recounting it, Alec felt his world shift and his foundation slip out from under him, wrapping his arms around himself he rocked back on his heels. Exhaustion had made him slow, but now he couldn’t push it aside.

This other Alec had his runes. They were stark against his pale skin, but he also wore a wedding band the same as Magnus. He was assertive, commanding, and comfortable as hell in the arms of a warlock. This wasn’t possible. It was beyond….he was dead and in some sort of lala land because that’s the only thing that made sense. The Clave would never sanction this, not in a million years. 

He looked up and found the other Alec staring at him, even as he hummed and responded to Magnus’ waving hands and dramatics. Dark eyes filled with compassion because this Alec knew he was spiraling. Knew he was so caught up in his head he could hardly focus on the world around him. They were different people, but the other him had a knowing look on his face that Alec wanted to slap off of it.

As Magnus wound down he could see the other him taking it all in, trying to sort out the information, but what he asked had Alec rolling his eyes. “The Shadowhunter’s in his world didn’t give you any trouble did they?” 

Magnus sighed with fond exasperation, and Alec felt a twinge in his gut. “My honor is completely intact darling. We all just need some sleep. Not that it will put that one in a better mood, but I may be less inclined to zap him in the light of a new day.” They were now standing wrapped around one another, Magnus had his back resting against his husband’s chest, and the man had his chin on Magnus’ shoulder. They were looking at him with the same sad look, and they were so soft that Alec couldn’t fathom how they survived in the Shadowworld, because compassion like that did nothing but get you killed.

Alec looked down at the floor so he didn’t have to look at them, and finally took in his surroundings. Avoiding the disgustingly cutesy way the two men in front of him were behaving, he finally realized he was standing in the institute. Electronically it wasn’t on the same scale as the one at home, but they were definitely standing in the institute. He ran a hand across his tattoo’s reflexively and turned away from the happy couple, breath stuttering as he felt the walls closing in on him. Unable to catch a breath he needed to get out of here. He needed to think. 

Stalking toward the entrance, he ignored both Alec and Magnus’ shouts for him to stop, he just continued out the door and down the steps. He’d barely made it off the steps of the institute when a demon shot out of the dark and barreled toward him. Shocked out of his own thoughts, Alec ducked and rolled to the side. He hadn’t brought a weapon like the level 100 dumb ass he was, so he kited the thing to the left so he could back himself into the institute. As the demon lunged toward him, a ball of blue magic exploded before him disintegrating the thing on the steps of the church. You had to appreciate the lack of ichor that came with Warlock magic.

Alec felt Magnus behind him, and was two seconds from stomping away into the darkness despite the danger, when his exasperation at his own angst got the best of him. He turned around and felt his stomach drop and butterflies burst inside of him. Breath stuttering at the sight.

“Alexander, are you alright?” 

The sound of his name made time slow and the noise of the world fade away. Cold air brushed across him. Alec blinked at the moonlight illuminating the warlock, shrouding him in a soft glow. Two steps above him stood the Magnus of this world, and Alec couldn’t look away from the golden green cat eyes gazing down at him. 

Heat poured through him; he knew his face flushed the longer he stared, and Alec had to stop himself from reaching out. Instead he pressed his palm to his chest where his tattoos’ were on fire, pulsing in time with the frantic beating of his heart. The world rushed back in and all he could see was the look of judgement on the angel’s faces when he..., Alec shook his head forcibly to remove the memory, and stumbled “Angel...no.” He said in anguish as he fell to his knees. 

Magnus. Another Magnus. Alec took a deep breath trying to calm the anxiety ripping through him. Magnus rushed forward to catch him as he fell, but Alec flinched away in horror. This wasn’t possible, this couldn’t be, he’d thought when he’d first heard Magnus say his name that it was possible, it just hadn’t been quite right and he’d been relieved, but this was the man from his dream and it was too much. Alec fell backwards onto the pavement and gazed up at the night sky. Stars illuminated the inky darkness and Alec was adrift amongst them. This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real.

He’d thought the angels were through punishing him. They’d said that he could keep his runes but….Alec’s train of thought was cut off as Magnus’ face filled his vision. This Magnus had the eyes, the beautiful eyes he’d had tattoo’d on his chest. His hair was combed down rather than up, and he wore a dark t-shirt with black combat pants. He looked more like a soldier, or a hiker than he did the extravagant version of himself hanging off of the other Alec. Even though he still wore eyeliner. Alec pondered if any version of Magnus went without it as he tried to reconcile himself to the hell he’d inadvertently walked into.

Magnus reached down and put his fingers on Alec’s forehead. “Alexander Lightwood I presume.” He said it in a quiet assured way that Alec wanted to curl up into, but he held himself back. He wanted to cry out in agony, this wasn’t fair.

All he could say was “Magnus Bane.” 

Magnus let out a quiet chuckle, “Introductions are quite unnecessary it seems I’m well known by you in every realm. And I must say, blue eyes certainly suit you.” A cheeky grin flashed across the warlock’s face, accompanied by the soft stroke of Magnus’ fingers across his cheek, and Alec wanted to scream. Magnus could evidently make out the sour expression on his face because he gave him a questioning look, but didn’t remove his fingers from Alec’s face. 

Alec turned away and sat up brushing his hands over his pants. “We should get back to the others.”

Magnus shifted his hand to Alec’s shoulder, and Alec saw him staring at his shirt. Right where his tattoo was. Could he feel it? Magnus seemed to shake himself, and asked gently “Are you alright?”

“Yes of course.” Alec said full of a bravado he certainly didn’t feel. Magnus’ voice was a soothing oasis, calm and so patient that Alec was a little bit mesmerized. Clenching his hands into fists in an effort to get a measure of control, he pushed himself to his feet and started up the steps not waiting to see if Magnus would follow.

###  **8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8**

**Demon Infested World:**

**Alt!Magnus POV**

Magnus blinked at himself coming out of the institute giving him a once over with a raise of his brow. The hair alone was worth a comment or two, but he refrained as a horrid memory of 1855 came back to haunt him. No judgment. To be fair, if his reality wasn’t a war torn apocalyptic wasteland he might try his hand with a bit more color. Under the circumstances, he feels like his other self really shouldn’t be looking at him like that. Practicality won out when conservation of magic was a priority. He smiled at himself, but it quickly dropped off of his face when he felt a surge in demonic activity. They were about to test this institutes defenses. 

He didn’t need to alert the two Alexander’s because his other self was already shouting. It seems the demon he’d dispatched wasn’t alone, and the Inquisitor had been smart enough to snag his counterpart’s weapons. Tossing him a bow and an angel blade they all rushed down the stairs to stand beside Magnus. Which he was ultimately grateful for because it took his mind off of the man beside him. 

He’d been startled when he first saw the Shadowhunter’s eyes. He had not expected the blue to have such a profound effect upon him. It had been like falling into an ocean. The dark eyed Shadowhunter was attractive, and he could certainly see why his other self had latched onto him, but this one was exquisite. Something had shifted inside Magnus the minute Alec had opened his eyes and looked up at him with such pain and longing. Whatever had happened to this Shadowhunter had deeply scarred him, and Magnus had never so badly wanted to know every single thing about another person. Could fate have a hand in this? It seemed strange to be so drawn to someone he knew nothing about.

Darkness fell around them as the stars and the moon were completely blacked out. His other self let out a string of curse words in 10 of the innumerable languages he knew. And Magnus couldn’t fault him, what was coming at them was worthy of every single curse. Emerging from the artificial darkness, the largest tentacled creature he had ever seen in his life. “What the hell is that?” yelled one of the Shadowhunters.

The Magnus beside him started to draw in Magic, and it was surreal to hear the fear in his own voice as he said, “It’s the beginning of Edom.”

It dawned on Magnus that he was right. Demons had swallowed the earth and that invasion had created Edom. It was happening again. This was a demon of legend, the Kraken. He brought with him the darkness. He and Alec must have just barely escaped the thing at the apothecary. Now it was attempting to destroy the institute. Magnus pulled the grumpy Shadowhunter with him to the right and flung his magic at the smaller demons flooding the street. The other Magnus didn’t even pause as he pulled his husband in the other direction. If they could surround it they might be able to burn a hole through it with their magic. 

Magnus jumped over the fence surrounding the institute. Without even asking, Alec shifted his stance and back to back they fought the smaller demons surrounding them. Magnus conjured a set of swords and with no hesitancy he began to dance around the dark creatures trying to kill him. “On your left.” He heard Alec shout, and turned quickly to pierce the gut of what looked like a spider demon.

“What the hell is wrong with these demons?” Alec asked as he beheaded two demons Magnus didn’t recognize.

“What do you mean?” the other Alec had made a similar remark and Magnus was beginning to wonder. He sidestepped a set of claws and almost walked right into a demon’s grasp, but Alec was there beside him chopping off limbs. From above, a black lump came flying at them, Alec didn’t say anything he just notched an arrow turned and let it lose. His instincts were incredible thought Magnus, there was barely a pause between his movements as he plowed through the demons around them ichor splashing on both of their clothes. Barely winded he herded Magnus back out of the way. Magnus was shocked. In all of his centuries he had met very few Shadowhunters who’s first instinct was to protect. By default warlocks were on their own, a threat or not of note, they were never the object of worry. This Alec and the other one were quite unique. 

Taking a pause after the rush, Magnus caught his breath and listened to Alec explain. “They’re warped. Eyes and claws are wrong, some of them are faster than they should be. The ichor isn’t the right consistency, almost as if they’re not the right species.” Alec said while his eyes were tracking the demon movement in the shadows. The Kraken was bringing the darkness with him, his tentacles crawling over the modern buildings and pulling him ever closer.

“We can talk about it later, we need to kill that thing before it destroys the institute.”

Alec nodded and moved them further down the street. Magnus shivered with the feel of energy rolling off the giant thing, he needed to find a somewhat defensible position so he pushed open the door of one of the taller brick buildings and started running up the stairs. Alec close on his heels. He stepped wrong on the landing and fell backwards into Alec’s arms. The Shadowhunter wrapped his arms around him, and Magnus felt a full body shiver wash over him. Time stilled, much like it had when he’d first saw the beautiful blue eyes, and he turned to look up. Alec was staring down at him, confused and if Magnus wasn’t mistaken betrayed. Like Magnus’ very presence was tearing him apart. They both snapped out of their intense gaze and Alec gently put Magnus back on his feet. This man was a wealth of contradictions and he’d known him all of an hour.

Magnus shook himself and focused on moving forward. Getting to the roof took him longer than he had anticipated, but when he blasted the door back he could see his other self on the building opposite the demon. They nodded to one another in the darkness, their eyes allowing them to see in the dark, and Magnus wasted no time funneling his magic into the demon slinking its way toward the Institute.

Sweat dripped off of him, and he could feel his reserves failing. Magic was so unstable but he really shouldn’t be draining this quickly; it was like the Demon was eating his magic. Across the way he could see Alec drop to his knees beside his husband. They held hands, and Magnus could see the energy flowing between them. Focused as he was, he barely noticed the demon shift course to their side of the building. Alec had been standing on the side of the building shooting the occasional arrow, but he rushed back to Magnus’ side as the thing picked up speed and soon they were surrounded by tentacles. 

“Move Magnus.” Alec grabbed his arm and jerked him away from the demon’s grasp. 

“I have to keep trying.” Magnus said desperately.

“No, you need to stay alive.” Alec wasn’t going to listen to anything he said, so Magnus ran with him across the roof. 

Neither one of them realized that the demon’s tentacles were so long they had already wrapped around the building. When they jumped across to the next building, the dark Kraken caught them in his grasp. Magnus immediately used his magic to try and burn the thing off, but he just absorbed it. Alec was hacking at the tentacles, but it was doing no good.

The tentacled monster jerked them up and then under his body, darkness surrounded Magnus on all sides. He could no longer see Alec. A suffocating weight of emptiness overwhelmed him and it built and built and built until Magnus wanted to explode out of his body. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t move, choking on nothing he felt a burn in his eyes and knife like pins tearing through him. 

This wasn’t death.

Magic engulfed him and just when he was on the edge of exploding, the pressure popped.

Opening his eyes and gasping for breath he saw Alec on the ground beside him staring up at what was above them. Magnus turned over and looked, surprised to see a sky with stars.

They’re alive. Hurt but breathing. Magnus couldn’t ask for a whole lot more.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.” Alec said as he sat up. Magnus couldn’t help but be somewhat confused.

“What?”

“Another portal to the middle of nowhere.” Alec stood up and took stock of his belongings, so Magnus did the same but as he rose to his feet Alec stumbled. Then he dropped to his knees and let out a keening wail. Magnus was at his side in an instant.

“What’s wrong Alexander?” Running his hands over the Shadowhunter, his magic coming easily to his finger tips.

Alec managed to get out through his clenched teeth, “Blood is on fire.” A blinding flash of light and Alec let out a gasp, his body settling down. 

“What the hell?” Said Magnus bewildered he conjured his swords again to be on the safe side and watched Alec very carefully raise his own sword. Something was out there. They were on some sort of island of dark shale rock. It cracked under Magnus’ feet. He couldn’t see any sign of life for miles, no trees, no plants, just an endless landscape of dark rock. The sky was equally as dark, but the stars twinkled above them.And the blinding flash of light that had startled him before, it had been lightning. It sparked along the landscape, thunder rumbling right along behind it. The cloudy sky was a thunderstorm without the rain, they were on some sort of lightning plane.

“Your magic solid?” Alec asked as he too looked around.

“Yeah, your runes?” Magnus watched Alec carefully as he seemed to be testing his stability.

“Good. I don’t understand what just happened.” Alec was shoulder to shoulder with Magnus.

“Perhaps I can explain.” Came a disembodied voice behind them. Magnus barely had a minute to absorb the words before Alec had shifted their positions and pushed Magnus down behind him. Magnus could damn well take care of himself, he didn’t need an overgrown Shadowhunter treating him like a helpless child. Pushing back against the man’s grip was nearly impossible. Alec was fiercely determined to keep Magnus behind him. 

Magnus quit struggling with a sigh and finally looked at the voice that spoke to them. Tall, woman was tall, was the first thing Magnus took note of, with the darkest skin he’d ever seen. Her hair was short and spiky, slender and willowy, Magnus was immediately reminded of the monks he’d met as a child. Eyes, filled with the rolling sparks of lightning, looked at them in an appraising way. “Who are you?” He heard Alec ask through the ringing in his ears, but Magnus didn’t need the woman to speak to know who she was.

“Archangel Uriel, the keeper of the keys to the pit, the guardian of hell.” Magnus intoned wonderingly.

“Very good Magnus, I see your centuries have served you well. “ Her voice was no less ghostly, but Magnus could hear the power in it now. She was quite possibly the most powerful being he’d ever been in the presence of, his father and Lilith included. Before him Alec cringed backwards in a harsh flinch at both her words and Magnus’ explanation of who she was.

She took a step forward. “Alec, I have no quarrel with you. I have been asked by my brothers to send the pair of you to Limbo and so I will.”

Magnus looked between them, and at her words Alec relaxed though he still felt the need to place his hand on Alec's arm in support. What the hell had the angels done to him that his response was very near terror in the presence of one? “Your brothers?” Magnus asked redirecting the conversation.

She shook her head, “Not relevant. I was told to give you passage, and that on the other side you would find connections you’d thought were lost.” Alec looked at him but Magnus had no more idea what was going on than he did.

"Why us and not the other two?"

Uriel's eyes lit up at that. "Because you and this Alec's home realms share a Limbo, the other two cannot be here without dying. You can visit other realms to a degree, but certain spaces outside the realms will kill you. In other words think of Limbo like a vase, and inside the vase each flower represents a realm. In the multiverse there are many vases with many flowers. The connections that you need to find are in this Limbo, now enough you need to go." Magnus looked at her questioningly but her gaze was already far away. A mist surrounded them light and damp. He took hold of Alec's hand just in case and the Shadowhunter gripped him tightly. Alec even went so far as to pull him closer into an embrace, and Magnus was once again struck by just how protective this man was of him after only having just met him. Was he also married to a Magnus in his world? He didn't have a ring. His reaction had definitely seemed like a big no on that front. Horror wasn't generally how one looked at one's husband when they saved your life. Lost in his thoughts about the man who's arms were wrapped around him, he barely felt the shifting of magic around them.

The trip to Limbo was much easier than the trip to wherever the hell they first landed. The mist cleared and Magnus blinked to try and take it all in. 

"Alec?" They heard a bewildered voice to their right. The Shadowhunter in his arms turned to the sound of the voice, and Magnus felt Alec's whole body spasm under his fingers.

"Jace?"


	6. Like A River Running Dry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Limbo

**8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8**

**Demon infested world:**

**HEA!Magnus POV**

Magnus threw himself back on the roof as the Kraken disappeared, and with it, all of the demons in the alley below them. Alec sat down beside him, still holding his hand and not very subtly checking Magnus’ pulse. His Shadowhunter was a ridiculous mother hen. With a glance at the empty rooftop across from them, Magnus winced.

“So does this version of me hang out with Ragnor?” Magnus asked hesitantly almost afraid of the answer. It would be good to see his friend again and right now he could definitely use the wisdom. He and the other Alec had barely had time to catch their breath before the demons had descended.

“I’ve only seen Luke, Raphael, and Catarina.” Alec said apologetically, while he scanned the area looking for threats.

Magnus gazed into the darkness above them, telling his friends that this world’s version had been inhaled by a demon of legend was not something he was looking forward to. If they were anything like his family, it was going to get loud. 

“What was that thing?” Alec asked as he sat down fully, shoulder to shoulder with Magnus, catching his breath and apparently satisfied that Magnus was fine and nothing was going to eat them.

“It predates any Shadowhunter texts on demons. To my knowledge it hasn’t been seen since before the war of the fallen and the birth of Edom.” Magnus leaned over so Alec would put an arm around him. He hadn’t had a chance to even tell Alec about the summoning ritual for the Archangel. That was still blowing his mind. Racking his brain for any obscure reference, and still he was coming up short.

“The war of the fallen?” Magnus hummed. 

“There were many wars in the realms before the war that drove the angels to fall and create their hell dimensions. Collectively they’re referred to as the war of the fallen. Shadowhunter codexes are light on the details from what I remember, but hell wasn’t created overnight, and neither were the demons that inhabit it. The Kraken is actually relatively harmless, it’s a gateway between Limbo and hell if I remember correctly though it does herald a host invasion so it’s not to be taken lightly. Only this time it seems to have been a mechanism to get those two out of here. A bit extreme, but it seems to have done the trick. Which of course makes me wonder why that particular method was used.”

He couldn’t see Alec’s face, but he knew it was pinched. Anger at the Clave for not educating his people properly, and well deserved, making him tense. “So they’re probably okay?”

“I think yes. There are a lot of moving pieces darling, and I don’t think the angels are quite done with us yet. We should go tell his family that he’s not coming back for a bit. Then we should really talk about how we’re going to shut down the rifts to hell.”

“How do you know there are rifts?”

“Because, the demons are coming in large numbers and I bet far more frequently than they should for it to be summonings or stragglers. I’ve also noticed the near total lack of your people here, so you can explain that to me on the way back. We need to get this under control, let’s go find the others.”

“Magnus, do you think we could set up some sort of communication between us and home? Jace, Clary, Izzy, well everyone really, are probably freaking out. I want them to know we’re alive.”

“Yes love, we’ll work on getting that sorted as well. I have some ideas.” Magnus waved his hand and a portal appeared, only for it to fizzle out almost immediately. Strange, his magic wasn’t depleted. Magnus was mid hand raise to try again when Alec stopped him.

“Oh the other you, he mentioned portals were unstable during waves. Not sure what that really means, but that’s what he said.” 

Magnus frowned. “Just how much time did you spend with this other me?” He raised a questioning brow.

Alec spluttered, then narrowed his eyes. “How much time did you spend with the other me?”

Magnus cleared his throat. “I asked you first.”

Alec raised a brow and crossed his arms. “What exactly are you implying?”

Magnus put a hand on his chest and faked an outraged gasp, “Me, nothing. It was a simple question. One that you’re not answering….”

Alec turned his back and started walking towards the fire escape, his shoulders shaking. “Are you laughing Alexander?!” The Shadowhunter kept walking. “Alexander! Get back here.”

Alec dropped onto the metal stairs, his head disappearing from view, but Magnus could hear his laughter loud and clear. He huffed. Then a shout came.

“Come on Magnus, you know you’re my favorite.”

**8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8**

**Limbo**

**Alt!Alec POV**

Alec threw out a hand to grab Jace, but he stumbled when his hand went right through the ghostly silhouette of his parabatai. “Magnus you heard him right?” he asked pleadingly, fearing he’d finally lost it. Gone entirely off the deep end. The Clave had been worried about him for awhile, and hell Izzy had him on constant surveillance. If his last name had been anything else he would more than likely not be here now. The Clave’s patience was very finite.

“I heard a voice say your name, yes. Who was it?” Magnus asked him, and Alec could barely breathe through his shock.

“So he could be here, but…ugh” Alec ran a hand over his face and resisted the urge to scream into the distance. He felt Magnus’ hand on his shoulder and tried to draw in a steadying breath. Now was not the time. “My parabatai, Jace.”

Alec saw Magnus wince and an extremely gentle hand stroked across his back in comfort before Alec shrugged him away. “It’s Limbo Alec, there are probably a great many people here. We should look around.” Magnus couldn’t keep the hurt look off of his face at Alec’s behavior, but gave him an understanding look and turned away.

Alec shook off the weight of exhaustion and ran his steele over several of his runes. Magnus took note, but he made no comment. This one was so much different. The other version of Magnus wouldn’t have been able to keep silent, at both the rune activation and the rebuff of his touch. This version of Magnus, the one that said his name exactly like the one in his dream, was harder. His eyes weren’t glamoured, his body wasn’t as relaxed, and he watched the world around him with a cold calculating stare ready to strike. But he still had something of a soft spot for Alec. Had he known the Alec of his world? Had something happened between them? This Magnus wouldn’t be applying glitter any time soon, and Alec felt a pang at that realization. What had happened to him?

Shaking off his musings of the warlock, he looked around and then blinked. Distracted as he had been by Jace, he’d barely noticed his surroundings. Trees surrounded them, beautiful browns covered in bright green moss. Golden leaves covered the floor, and it smelled like a fresh morning. “Magnus, is Limbo really supposed to be some sort of forest glade?”

“If you’re asking did we land in the right place? Then the answer is yes. This is Limbo, the air tastes of waiting and death. As for how it is meant to look, I don’t know that any recorded descriptions have ever been recovered. The songs of poets, and the dreams of artists, but never any eye witness accounts.”

“How can Jace be here? He’s got angel blood, I mean I thought you had to be unaware of the heavens before you could be sent here.” Alec patted his chest in search of the ring that he wore around his neck. Comforted by its presence, he bent down to check his boot laces, blinking his eyes as he shook away a wave of dizziness. He wasn’t going to hold out much longer, runes or no, he was running on fumes.

“That’s one way of seeing it, another is that the soul deserves neither heaven or hell and so they wait for judgement here. Or if you believe in reincarnation, it’s a place to wait until your soul is recycled. What this realm is truly for, only the Angels really know.” 

Alec couldn’t help the way he watched Magnus, staring up at him from his crouched position. This was the one. The one he had to protect from himself. If he knew magic and the Angels, it was a cleverly designed punishment despite what Uriel said. His dream had brought him peace, and there wasn’t even half a chance that they would allow that for him. So, this Magnus was in danger every moment he spent with Alec. He wasn’t about to let someone else be punished for his choices. Jerking his laces tight, he stood up resolute in his need to get as far away from the man as possible before he did something he couldn’t take back. Which meant finding a way out of here and fast.

The forest looked like the Fae realm, but it didn’t feel alive like the Fae. Alec felt nothing, it was still and heavy. Magnus was walking around touching things, bringing leaves to his nose to smell and pushing things around on the ground with his boots, attempting to orient himself if Alec wasn’t mistaken. The other Magnus had been quick to adapt, but this one was observing his surroundings. Testing the boundaries. Ensuring that whatever they were walking into wasn’t going to take their heads off. The soldier in him respected the care Magnus was taking. It was startling how much he trusted the warlock, he was barely an acquaintance, but Alec had no trouble believing that Magnus would do all in his power to keep them safe.

After another look around Magnus stopped and put his hands on his waist. His look turned apprehensive, but he said confidently “I think we should rest here.”

Alec frowned, not at all pleased. “We need to keep moving.”

Magnus tilted his head and gazed at him seriously. “I might agree, but I think it would be best for both of us if my magic was fully restored before we ran into anything too sinister.” 

Alec let his brow raise, damn the man for being so sensible. With an aggrieved sigh he said, “Did you find something we should worry about? This isn’t exactly defensible.”

Magnus nodded and pointed to the tops of the trees and the too bright sky. “I’m not certain the light from the sky is a sun, everything here is very artificial, and if that’s the case we will most certainly run into magic. I’d rather be at my best than be caught off guard. And I can do something about our defenses.”

Magnus opened his hand palm up and deep purple light began to glow from his hands. A little flourish and Alec could feel wards surrounding them. “It’s not perfect, but it will alert us if anything comes too close.” Alec wasted no time after that and dropped down to the ground with his back to a tree. He’d barely had his eyes closed for a minute when Magnus’ voice broke the stillness of the air and made him tense. “The tattoo on your chest, you rub it unconsciously, is it different from your regular runes?”

The question was asked with a curious but hesitant tone and Alec had to hold back a groan. His first reaction was to lie, but something in him just wouldn’t stand for it. “Yeah it’s different. A warlock gave them to me several years ago.”

Magnus hummed quietly. “Ragnor Fell?”

Alec winced. “Yeah, how did you know?”

“He was a very close friend of mine. Did you know me in your world?” Alec noticed how he completely skirted the question. Interesting.

Alec stretched his legs out. “I knew of you, but I never met you personally.”

“So you’re not married?” Magnus asked, and Alec wanted to stand up and walk over to get a good look at him, knowing his expression would reveal far more than his tone. Alec didn’t answer. Waiting to see exactly where Magnus was going with this. “It’s just you wear a ring on a chain around your neck, I thought maybe you….”

Alec was intrigued. “I what?”

Magnus laughed and Alec could hear the hurt in it. “I thought that your partner had died and that’s why you didn’t wish to be near me. I see now that it’s just me.” 

Alec wanted to shout at the heavens in frustration. It was for his own good. Damnit. But he couldn’t stand the sound of Magnus in pain even if it was just emotional. This man was responsible for the purest moment of peace he’d ever experienced in his life, even if it was only a dream and would never come to pass, even if Alec was never going to tell him, he wouldn’t purposefully cause him to suffer. Not if he could help it. “Hey no, it’s not...I’m just trying to wrap my head around everything. I swear, it’s not you. I didn’t know you, but I’d heard of you Magnus. Your reputation precedes you. Clearly you’re not all that different here than you were in my world. You treat people generously. More generously than I...they deserve.” He quickly recounted the same story he’d given rock star Magnus about his sacrifice and his suspicion of the Clave. 

“I sincerely doubt the Clave’s version of events is honest.” Magnus said darkly.

“It seems unlikely. What about me, did you know the Alec of this world?” 

“No, I know none of the younger generation of Shadowhunters. You’ve all been gone for 20 years.” Alec startled and turned over. Questioning Magnus. A world without his people to control the demons. Hell, he’d barely had time to notice that none had appeared when they fought the Kraken. So wrapped up in himself. Hell. Magnus gave him a quick recap and he pondered what this had to with the Angel’s plans. He wasn’t here by accident. Neither of them were, and if his run ins with Angels in the past were any bar to go by, they were not in for an easy time. Sleep came swiftly, even if his thoughts were consumed with the man laying a few feet away from him.

**8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8**

Alec opened his eyes with a snap, and cursed when his eyes zeroed in on the empty spot where Magnus had stretched out. Either the warlock took off on his own, or he had disappeared back home, or he was in trouble, Alec couldn’t even begin to guess. Napping in Limbo was apparently the wrong decision though he couldn’t deny he felt better. The sky above hadn’t changed, so he couldn’t even take a stab at how much time had passed. Going over every inch of the clearing revealed footprints thankfully, so Alec followed them cautiously. He still very nearly stumbled over Magnus. 

“If you even think about telling me that you felt something, and that’s why you wondered off on your own, I’m going to…” Magnus didn’t let him finish before he jerked him down behind the tree where he was crouched. Alec didn’t miss the way the warlock gave him a once over. Appreciative but also concerned with his well being. He’d known this man for hours and he showed him far more courtesy than his own family. It was laughable. As hard as this version was, he still couldn't hide his innate compassion.

Alec leaned in close when Magnus motioned for him to, and nearly jerked back when Magnus put his lips close to Alec’s ear. “I heard something.” Was all he whispered, then he turned and pointed. Alec wanted to collapse on the forest floor and curse god. Both for what was in the clearing and how desperately he wanted to push Magnus back onto the forest floor and bury himself in the Warlock and never come up for air.

“What the hell is that?” He whisper shouted in Magnus’ ear.

“A revolution, a revolt, some sort of renegade alliance of demons, your guess is as good as mine. We’re damn lucky they didn’t stumble across us on their way here.” A Stonehenge sat upon a small hill before them, the forest clearing packed full of demons of every kind. Many Alec had only ever seen pictures of, and many he didn’t even have that for reference. They surrounded a stone slab, and upon it stood a good looking man with sandy hair and a business suit. Smooth polished face, delivering a speech in what Alec could only assume was a demonic language.

“Who is it? And what’s he saying?” Alec asked while mentally counting their numbers.

“I have no idea who it is, the crowd’s not exactly being helpful. And as for what he’s saying, it’s a call for the demons here listening to rise up against their masters, which he is implying is both heaven and hell. They both need to be destroyed for the world to be free. He’s an incredibly captivating speaker even if he is speaking a dead language that I am having an incredibly difficult time following.”

Alec rolled his eyes. “Is he just practicing, because demons don’t speak English or really speak at all.”

“Well that’s where you’re wrong Lightwood, many species speak the demonic languages, but it is highly unusual for them to be gathered like this. There are demons from hell dimensions that don’t even intersect.” They both leaned a little further out to catalog the demons in the clearing, Magnus using Alec to balance himself.

“These aren’t wrong like the ones in your world. They don’t have the mutations.” Alec reached back behind him to pull his bow and blade forward, when his hand touched nothing he cursed. He’d been so exhausted the night before he hadn’t realized his weapons were missing. 

“What mutations? We didn’t get a chance to discuss.” Magnus asked him seriously, his flashing cat eyes startling Alec from trying to remember the last time he’d seen his bow. How could one man be so damn distracting.

“The silver, and the speed, and the just general wrongness. The species of demons on your world have enhancements.” Alec frowned as he watched the demons bow to the speaker. He indicated Magnus should pay attention with a tilt of his head. “Is he a greater demon do you think?”

Magnus shook his head and held his hand palm up towards Alec, a small tiny blue flame engulfed his hand. “I checked, there’s nothing demonic in him. He registers more Angelic than he does Demonic, but he’s not exactly an Angel either. He’s something, but I genuinely don’t know what.”

Alec looked at the hand in front of him and had to clench his own into fists. Magnus was not to be touched. 

No matter how curious Alec was, or how it might hurt his feelings to have Alec pull away from him.

His own hand was rough and calloused, he wondered if Magnus’ hands would be soft, or rough because warlocks didn’t care about that sort of thing happening. His nails were black, and he had several rings on his fingers but they were far more muted in their style than the other version of him. What the hell was he thinking? Just because the other Magnus was interested in his version of Alec, didn’t mean this one even wanted to give him the time of day. He probably had no desire to let Alec touch his hand.

The man in the clearing wrapped his speech up and a portal opened behind him. He stepped through and the demons began to disperse, through portals of their own. Magnus sat down fully on the ground and Alec watched him try to sort out what they had just seen. Shaking his head he looked up at Alec, “We should try to track your parabatai.”

Alec startled, “what?”

“Uriel said connections we’d lost. I presume she meant your parabatai. He must have passed in your world, do you carry a memento? He’s a ghost or a shade here, but there might be enough of his soul that my magic can trace him.” Magnus asked as he stood from the ground. Alec frowned, a wave of anger at the casual mention of Jace being dead, but he pushed it down knowing Magnus was just being practical. Reaching for the necklace, he pulled it over his head and held it out to the warlock. Nodding respectfully, he took the ring and closed his eyes. Less than a minute later they were trudging through the woods.

**8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8**

Alec couldn’t help the grumble that came from his stomach, nor could he help his reaction to the look Magnus sent him. “I’ll just use a rune.”

“You’ll do no such thing darling. A rune is no substitute for actual food.”

Just call him a puddle. He was a warrior for god’s sake. Warriors did not puddle. Except apparently when Warlocks looked at them with gentle motherly looks and offered to conjure them meals. He melted with no hesitation.

“Really Alexander, it’s no trouble. When was the last time you ate? Please sit. What would you like?” Magnus looked at him expectantly. 

Alec blushed. Why was he blushing? How had he not realized having Magnus’ full undivided attention was almost too much. His stare was too knowing, his eyes far too piercing. “Whatever is fine.” Then followed it up with a hasty thank you, lest Magnus think him rude. 

Magnus waved his hand and a table with what looked to be several burger options laid out. “I hope something appeals.” 

“It smells amazing.” He said leaning over and grabbing a burger from the table. Magnus didn’t bother to step around him, just leaned in right behind him grabbing his own burger. His chest was flush with Alec’s back, and Alec froze. Magnus’ face was right beside his, and his whispered words sent a shiver right through Alec. 

“If you need anything Alexander, anything at all, just ask.” Magnus slowly pulled himself away, and Alec finally let out his breath. Well strike his earlier thought from the record, Magnus was definitely interested. Fuck.

He turned around to face the other man and was met with a wicked smile and a wink. Alec scowled. “Are we almost there?” Taking a petulant bite of the burger in his hands, he watched as Magnus nodded and waved his hand, the table behind them vanishing from the forest. Then he started walking again.

They both polished off their burgers very quickly and when Magnus finally called a halt, Alec was pleasantly full but still confused about why Magnus had selected that moment to come onto him. He’d been so well behaved before. It was odd. Did it have anything to do with the questions about the tattoos the night before? What was that anyway?

“This is the place.” With a wave of his hand he indicated a shrub. 

“Magnus, that’s a bush.”

He snickered and Alec rolled his eyes. “Yes well darling, the magic doesn’t lie and it says your parabatai is here. Somewhere.” Looking around he saw nothing. Frowning at Magnus he walked closer to the bush and tried to move passed it, but when he did, he felt magic surround him on all sides. Locking him in place.

“Magnus don’t!” He shouted, but it was too late, Magnus followed him inside.

“Well this is unfortunate.” He said with an irritatingly cheerful voice.

“Can you get us out or not?” Alec growled.

“Patience Shadowhunter.” Magnus blinked a few times, then the magic around them receded and they collapsed onto the cavern floor. “Looks like a secret entrance. That’s always fun.”

Alec groaned. “I honestly thought you were different from the other you, clearly I was very wrong.”

Magnus laughed. “Oh you are entirely like the other you, though not as happily married or well balanced emotionally as he is, you both have the same wrinkle right here.” Magnus poked his forehead, “When things are going badly anyway.”

“What happened? Where did serious business Magnus go, I want him back.” Alec huffed.

Magnus cackled. “Oh he’s still here, I’ve just decided you’re not who I thought you might be. Therefore welcome to Magnus’ inner circle, where I treat you like family.”

“No, nope, no. I had one of those, and quite frankly…”

“Shhhh.” Magnus whirled around. “Something is here.”

Alec jumped to his feet reaching for the bow that wasn’t there and cursing while pushing Magnus behind him. “Magnus can you…” That was all he got out before a bright green light flashed surrounding them and what felt like a portal opened up under their feet. They stumbled when they landed, and Alec looked around suspiciously. They were in a cavern room with a chest. No doors, no windows, no markings, just the chest. 

Magnus didn’t even bother to look around, he just strode forward and threw open the lid. “For Angel’s sake Magnus be careful.” Magnus looked over his shoulder and rolled his eyes. 

“Warlock.” He said sarcastically pointing to his chest and rolling his eyes at Alec’s over protectiveness. “Clearly we were meant to see whatever is here, but I think it’s for you.” He waved Alec over, and Alec gaped. 

Inside was the most beautiful piece of weaponry he’d ever seen in his life. Bow. The best...most beautiful...glorious….ugh he could barely contain his need to whine. Black matte, long, comfort grip guard, but what he couldn’t take his eyes off of was the black dragon wings that made up the upper and lower halves of the weapon. He’d never seen anything like it, and he couldn’t resist reaching out a hand for it. Lifting the bow from the chest, it felt perfect in his hands. The right balance as if it had been tailor made for him, but it had to be centuries old. Just under the bow, resting on the velvet lining of the box was a quiver of arrows and a seraph blade. “What are they made out of?” He asked Magnus.

“Your guess is as good as mine. The more interesting question is who did they belong to and why are they being stored in Limbo of all places.”

“Should I even be touching this?” He asked cautiously.

“Alexander, if I’m not mistaken that Bow has some sort of enchantment on it, angelic in nature or close to it.” Alec dropped it back into the box without hesitation. “No no. Take it. I think you’re meant to have it. Look.” Magnus pointed to the carvings on the wings that made up the bow’s limbs. 3 symbols neither one of them recognized, but the fourth was slowly revealing itself to be an Angelic deflect rune. It was now taking up space on the upper half of the bow. “It’s marked for you.” Alec hesitantly reached out and picked up the weapon again. This time taking the blade and the quiver as well.

“This isn’t an ordinary seraph blade.”

“No, I don’t imagine it is if it’s stored in a chest in Limbo.” Magnus said thoughtfully, and Alec had to take a deep calming breath. As he did, the green light was back, blinding them. Alec wasted no time and wrapped himself around Magnus.

“Honestly Shadowhunter, I am in no need of this coddling.” Magnus said into his ear, his warm breath sending shivers down Alec’s spine.

“Until magical explosions and weird magical shit stops happening around me, I’m not going to stop making sure you’re okay.” Alec said stubbornly.

“So you’re my bodyguard now is it?” Magnus was quietly laughing at him and Alec knew it, but he’d be damned if he let anyone die in his place. Not again. Ignoring Magnus knowing look, he did a quick internal check to make sure everything was in working order.

He pulled back slightly expecting to see another room, only this time instead of being surrounded by a cavern on all sides, they were back in the forest, and a very ghostly Jace was standing before them.

“Alec!” He shouted in shock, then he came forward like he was going to hug Alec but pulled back when he realized it would be useless. Confusion clouded his face. “What are you doing here?”

Alec shrugged. “Angels.” He said short and clipped. Magnus stepped back and looked over at him in question, but said nothing. Jace was wearing his black pants, leather jacket, Shadowhunter gear, and his runes were still intact. He didn’t look any different than the last time Alec had seen him alive, well despite his transparency.

“It’s about damned time. Did they send you here to get the Shadowhunters that are imprisoned back home? Are you going to stop the Demon rebellion?” Jace asked seriously crossing his arms over his chest.

Alec and Magnus looked at one another. They clearly had a lot to talk about.


	7. When the Sun’s Too Bright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus has some revelations, Jace is over it and Alt!Alec and Alt!Magnus are still chilling in Limbo.

** 8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8 **

**Demon Infested World**

**Magnus POV**

Magnus walked slowly toward the institute his fingers playing a dance across his thigh as he sent magic feelers out into the world. He had no idea what he was dealing with here, having only been in this realm for a little under an hour or so, but he could absolutely tell that the magical landscape was ravaged. The ley lines were in ruins. His portal not working wasn’t because of a demon wave, it was because the magic of this world was warped. He wondered if the other him was aware, or if this had just become the norm. 

The summoning ritual from the Angels was more and more intriguing by the minute. Could they not just swoop down from the “heavens” and insert themselves into the situation. It was becoming apparent that they were limited. But how limited? He’d never really taken the time to study or even consider what the limitations to an angel's powers were. But he was forming a theory that the ley lines were a pillar of angelic power even if they weren't necessarily angelic in nature. 

Alec was ahead of him, leading the way to the institute, with his bow drawn and his eyes searching every dark corner they passed. Magnus let him cover them trusting his Shadowhunter’s skills as he sent out a more concentrated burst of magic, looking for angelic power and searching for concentrated demonic energy. He was surprised to find Alec the only source of angelic energy within the radius of his magic. Had the angels been banished from this realm? Was that what the summoning ritual was for? He wasn’t actually summoning the angel, he was tearing through a banishing spell. The contents of the circle made a bit more sense, but he was still puzzled as to why the angels had jerked him out of his warm bed to do this. 

There was already a Magnus here. If he was missing the Edom power up, couldn’t they have just fixed it? This was all very confusing. Alec stopped in front of him abruptly, and Magnus put his hand up to grab the back of his leather jacket. “Darling?” He pushed a bit of magic at Alec’s quiver, and realized the other Magnus must have renewed the charm. 

“What are we going to tell Raphael, Luke and Cat when we get back?” They were a few hundred yards from the steps of the institute, and he could feel the tension in Alec’s shoulders.

“Let me talk to them.” Magnus said firmly stroking a hand down Alec's back in an attempt to soothe. This beautiful man would never cease to amaze him. His sensitive loving nature was something Magnus hoped he never stopped being in awe of, that he would never take such a wonderful gift for granted.

“The Magnus here is different, they’re not going…”

Magnus turned Alec around and looked up into his concerned hazel eyes, raising up slightly to kiss his husband. “Alexander. He may not have gone through everything that I have, but he still gathered the same people around him. His family. That speaks volumes about who he is as a person. I’ve had many phases in my life, believe it or not, one of them was a boring bookish professor type who still wore eye liner and painted his nails. Had his world not devolved into this apocalyptic landscape, he may have taken on the same flamboyant dramatic air as my glorious self.” Magnus sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. Alec came closer and pulled Magnus’ arms down and around his waist and softly kissed his forehead while rubbing soothing circles across his back.

“There’s no way to deliver the news gently. They’re going to be furious, but I have no intention of sitting on the sidelines while their Magnus is indisposed. They’re not going to trust us at first, but we’ve earned their approval before. We can do it again. And, I’m not going to let that stop me from getting us home and saving this dumpster fire of a world.” Magnus looked up at his husband and the fierceness of his words made Alec grin.

“Alright alright, let’s do this then.” With one final squeeze, Alec and Magnus turned to walk the final stretch into the institute.

** 8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8 **

Magnus took a deep breath. Cat was standing to his right, Raphael was glowering at him from his seat by the monitors, and Luke was judging the hell out of him with his arms crossed tightly over his chest. Alec had given him a look of utter sympathy and headed for the kitchen, knowing Magnus was going to want to eat and drink his feelings post this horrid wretched god awful conversation. 

Three of the five people Magnus was closest to, had yelled at him for a good solid five minutes about how reckless and negligent he was. If he didn’t feel so damn guilty, it would be like any other dressing down he’d received at their hands over the past few years.

“You could have waited for us, you could have stayed together, but NO….you ran off with a Shadowhunter and let our Magnus get taken as a result. How could you?” Catarina had her hands on her hips and a look of pure betrayal in her eyes. Magnus winced and took a breath, he could do this. Cat was a reasonable person. 

“We didn’t think Cat, we split up to cover both sides. I had no idea he was in any more danger than I was.” Pleading with her to understand, she huffed and rolled her eyes. 

Luke was frowning just as fiercely. “What were you thinking Magnus? Has that Shadowhunter turned you against our kind? Has he fucked the….” Magnus couldn’t stop his magic from igniting, and he couldn’t stop the anger in his voice rocking the foundation of the room.

“I’ll allow your anger at me, as it is deserved, but you speak about my husband with anything but respect in your tone again, and I will not be so restrained. Are we clear?” Magnus let the red fire of his magic pulse, and felt a tiny sliver of guilt at the fear in Luke’s eyes as he backed away. The three of them looked wary, but Magnus wasn’t about to let them get away with the slur.

“My husband is not up for debate. You were alone with him for a period of time before I arrived, did he strike you as a dishonorable man? Did he give you the impression he would allow someone to walk to their death on purpose?” Each of them shook their heads a little shamefully.

“I understand that your anger and grief are making you lash out, but Alexander does not deserve it and I won’t stand for it. Your Magnus is your family, Alexander is my family, do not think for a minute I’ll let you hurt him.” Magnus took a deep breath and wrapped his arms across his stomach, rocking back on his heels and letting his magic fade. He dropped the glamour on his eyes, and looked at the haggard faces before him. “I really am sorry. I’m sorry I couldn’t save him, that I didn’t see the danger, it was not well done of me.”

Raphael’s voice, lower after having yelled so furiously before, was violence personified as he glowered at Magnus, “After everything he’s done for all of us, everything he’s sacrificed, every horror he’s endured for our people, his death was for nothing.” Magnus wanted to ball, sit down in the floor and ball. What the hell had happened in this world?

Raphael would defend him to the death, he knew that, he’d always known that, but seeing it with his own eyes was humbling. “I’m pretty sure he’s not dead.” Raphael did not like that, not at all, so very much the same vibe as his world.

“Pretty sure isn’t sure.” he said with an actual snap of his fangs. Magnus sighed.

“The Kraken was clearly sent here to retrieve the two of them, and there wasn’t a whole lot either myself or Alexander could have done to stop it.” With those words Raphael stood up and came closer staring at Magnus with pure fury blazing in his eyes.

“How hard did you actually try?”

Luke reached out and put a restraining hand on Raphael’s shoulder. “They didn’t deliberately put our Magnus in danger. He walked into it with them, Raphael. You know how he is, they couldn’t have stopped him.” So Luke was going to be the reasonable one. He turned to Magnus with a frown. “I was out of line before, I apologize.” He waited for Magnus’ acknowledgement before asking firmly, “You said pretty sure. What makes you believe he might not be dead?”

Magnus took a deep breath. “I wasn’t brought here for the fun of it. The angels have an agenda, though Lilith only knows what the hell it is. The Kraken is a demon of legend, and one of the lesser known details about the creature is its ability to pass souls into Limbo.” Everyone around him was looking at him with wide eyes, and Magnus was happy to see a little hope seeping into them. 

“You think they took him to Limbo for something, but what?” Catarina began to pace.

“I think there’s something wrong here, beyond just the lack of Shadowhunters and the influx of demons. And I don’t think you’ve noticed because you’re living in it, maybe. Or something is making you not notice. And besides all of that, Alexander is with him.” 

Raphael raised a brow and snarled, “Is that meant to be a comfort?”

Magnus grinned in spite of Raphael’s dour attitude. “My dear, my Shadowhunter would blow up the ground he stands on to make something right. That Shadowhunter, the one your Magnus is with, will blow up the ground the angels stand on to make something right. He’s different, but your Magnus is in safe hands. If it’s within Alec’s power, nothing will happen to your version of me. He won’t let it.” Choosing not to reveal his knowledge of the tattoo’s on Alec’s chest, that wasn’t for him to say, and knowing exactly how militant Alec could be about safety, Magnus was fairly certain he wasn’t wrong. 

Raphael rolled his eyes, but settled back down and dialed his glower down from an 8 to a 4. Satisfied he’d gotten his point across, Magnus turned fully toward Cat, giving his back to Luke and Raphael. “Now Cat, how aware are you of the disturbance in the force?”

“What are you talking about?” Cat stopped and looked at him curiously, making Magnus fondly think of Simon. How droll. This would be far more spirited and entertaining if the little chatterbox was hanging around offering his off color commentary. Magnus quickly snapped out of it, missing home was just going to distract him better to focus on the now.

“The magic here is wrong, it’s warped in a way that I’ve never seen before.” Magnus waved his hands out before him and brought up a facsimile of the ley lines. The image stretched out across the table in the opps area where they all stood. “In my world the ley lines are like a stream, a flowing stream of pure magic that wrap around the world and balance the web of magic.” He watched Cat look at his magic nodding her head along.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Have you looked at the ley lines in the past 20 years? Has anyone?” Magnus asked as he waved his hands again. The new image made Catarina gasp, then she leaned forward and put her hands on the table while taking a deep breath. The ley lines were no longer tightly controlled streams of power, they looked like a pair of headphones that had been at the bottom of a backpack for a month. The nexus points were gone, and the tangled incomplete web was horrifying.

“This is why our magic isn’t stable. It’s not the demonic portals. How in the world did we miss this?” She said wonderingly.

“Yeah and it baffles the hell out of me why you haven’t looked.” Magnus looked over at her. “I sent out some analysis spells, and the angelic energy in this world is all but non-existent. I don’t know if that would tangle the ley lines like this, but it might.” Catarina nodded her head.

“The working theories about the origins of magic touch upon the need for a balance of demonic and angelic energies. Complete absence of one could lead to a complete destabilization of magic, but it doesn’t explain us not investigating it. Your Alec also asked us if we’d investigated the disappearance of the Shadowhunter’s, and we hadn’t. It’s like there’s a fog over us all, but I can’t detect it at all.” 

Magnus raised tapped a finger on his chin, thinking. “I think I should take a look at one of the demon rifts. You call them portals, but I think they might be something else.”

Cat waved her own hands and pulled up a map of the area. She pinpointed the portals. “These are the ones I know about. We can take a look.”

Magnus examined the map closely, there was something about the formation that was pinging a forgotten memory. He was struggling to pull it forward.“I really need to talk to Ragnor his knowledge of the archaic is far more robust than mine, he also has a direct relation to ley line theory as he studied it for years. I’m hoping…” He let his words trail off as Catarina turned to look at him, tears pooling in her eyes. Damnit he thought.

“I’m so sorry Magnus.”

Raphael and Luke came forward to look more closely at the map and Magnus felt a wave of sadness overwhelm him; as soon as he wrapped this up he was going to start working on that communication spell. Speaking with Cat and Madzie, or hell even Jace at this point would make the gaping hole in his chest ease.

A siren broke him out of his reverie and he turned on autopilot for the front doors of the institute.

“What are you doing?” Luke asked as he followed him.

“Demons have breached the perimeter, I’m going to go fry most of them.” Magnus said firmly without pausing his stride toward the front. His incredibly gorgeous husband came sliding around the corner.

“Magnus wait, don’t kill all of them.”

The three people he considered family looked at Alec horrified, but Magnus was on the same page. “Already on it darling.” Magnus said with a small wave of his hand. Then he tilted his head. “Should you stay..”

“Did it before you arrived, we’re good.” Alec said as he pulled his bow from his shoulder and an arrow from his quiver, sliding smoothly in front of his husband before he could step out of the institute. Magnus gave him a “I see what you did there look”, but Alec just winked at him. Alec was never going to not use himself as a shield, it was infuriating. 

“What the hell are the two of you talking about?” Luke growled.

Magnus turned to look over his shoulder at the others. “We need to take a look at the demons, something is off about them. My very enterprising husband has prepared a space in the lab of this little fortress where I will very shortly be analyzing the creature we’re going to capture. You lot can stay here, we’ll be back shortly.”

“Magnus your magic is just as affected as ours, you can’t go out there. We need you to…” Magnus cut Catarina off with a wave of his hand.

“I’ve got a handle on it, and I’m a bit different from the Magnus here. As long as Alexander is with me, I’ll be fine.” He didn’t tell her that sharing energy with his husband had stabilized him to some degree, even if he couldn’t create a portal, he could see where the kinks in the magic were. Given enough time he’d work out a solution. He also paused momentarily wondering if he should talk to her about summoning the angel. A part of him was hesitant, but he couldn’t put his finger on why. Vowing to speak with Alexander about it later he concentrated on his magic, sorting out the inconsistencies. With that, Magnus blew the doors of the institute open and his husband descended the steps with Magnus one step behind him. Flicking his fingers, he let his power concentrate in his palms blue wisps floating around his arms.

** 8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8 **

Magnus sat down on the chair Alec so kindly pulled over for him, they’d finally made it to the kitchen after the mess outside. “You know I’m not actually drained right?”

Alec raised a brow at him and shrugged, “Can I not do nice things for my husband?”

Magnus rolled his eyes. They’d captured one of the mutated demons, and had him locked tightly in the lab. Magnus had used quite a bit of magic, but there was no cause for this deep level of concern. Alec was hovering over him like he was one breath away from passing out. “Alexander, darling, everything is going to be okay. I’m fine.” 

Alec scowled. “You don’t know that. You don’t know what being in this realm is doing to either of us. We could both be stuck here forever. And I don’t know about you, but I’d really like to get home, and right now we have about zero idea how to even accomplish that.” He placed a bowl on the table in front of Magnus, and knowing his husband it was probably….yup his favorite a delicious fried rice dish he’d taught Alexander how to make months ago. He’d been as bad as Isabelle when they first started dating, and that horrifying stew he’d made his mother had inspired Magnus to help Alec find his feet in the kitchen. He’d been hesitant at first, but his focused diligence was paying off despite how many of their lessons had ended sans clothes. Magnus didn’t hesitate as he leaned over to take a bite of the offering. He smiled up at Alec doing his best to distract him from the anxiety of their situation. 

He failed.

His husband was having a meltdown. 

Magnus wanted to cry. Just the thought of not seeing his parabatai or his sister again was ripping his husband to shreds. He could see it all over his face. Years later and Alec still couldn’t hide his feelings, not that Magnus would want him to, he enjoyed reading his husband like a book. Magnus stood up and wrapped his arms around Alec’s waist, doing his best to soothe the agitated Shadowhunter. “I don’t think the angels intend for us to remain here. No, I don't know how to get us home, but that doesn’t mean I won’t figure it out. Something tells me the Angels are just as invested in a solution to this problem as we are.” Running his hands up Alec’s back to soothe his tension, Magnus kissed the underside of his chin.

“What if we die here?” Alec asks quietly into his hair then dropping his face into the crook of Magnus’ shoulder. 

Magnus sighed into his chest. “I can’t promise it won’t happen darling, but I will promise I’ll be more careful.” Alec nodded on his shoulder and kissed his neck. Magnus ran a hand over the back of his neck soothingly. “Sit we both need to eat.” Alec grumbled at Magnus pulling out of his arms, but he sat at the table. Then he stood back up to grab a bowl of fruit from the counter and the teapot for Magnus. 

Magnus hoped Alec could see every bit of the love in his eyes when he placed the items on the table. He’d never had anyone in his life who so carefully saw to his needs. Alec made a point of providing for Magnus in small ways. Like adding fruit and tea to every meal he prepared because they were Magnus’ favorites. It was precious, and Magnus loved the hell out of him for it. Leaning across the table he kissed his husband, “I love you.”

Alec grinned and let his own eyes go soft with love. “Love you too.”

** 8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8 **

**Homeworld:**

**Jace POV**

Jace kicked the wall of the room the Seelie Queen had given him. Clary and Isabelle had gone back home over four hours ago, but he refused. He’d be damned if he was going to worry about the institute when Alec and Magnus were god knows where, doing god knows what, with no back up. The queen had been accommodating, Jace would give her that, but he was no closer to any answers about the couple’s whereabouts and he was losing what little patience he possessed. His rune wasn’t acting differently, but something told him Alec was in some shit without him and he wanted to punch someone.

“Jace?” The queen asked from his doorway and Jace felt stupid for letting her sneak up on him.

“Your majesty, sorry.” Still not used to the cooperative nature of the new Queen he had to forcefully stop himself from making a snide comment. To be fair she had been more than accommodating, clearly understanding the impact of Magnus and Alec’s disappearance.

“Please call me Hera.” 

“Wow a Greek goddess huh.” Jace said flippantly.

She winked making him pause, “Oh yes she wore my name well, though perhaps a little more vindictive than I myself would chose to be.”

Jace gaped. “They named her after you?”

Hera laughed. “No I’m not soo very old.” She tilted her head to the side and grinned at him, and Jace couldn’t help but chuckle. She was charming, and not in a creepy power mad kind of way. “I came to see if you would like to join me and the historians as we search for information about the tree.”

Jace perked up. “Yeah that sounds great. Any working theories?”

A puzzled look made her scrunch her face up, “there are so many tree legends it’s daunting. The tree of life; the tree of knowledge of good and evil; The world tree; the tree of knowledge; Yggdrasil a gateway or portal to heaven and hell, and the list continues.”

Jace groaned, “Do we know anything new?”

She slowed her pace slightly as she turned to look at him. “We do. The roots of the tree are entwined with the ley lines. The power is running through the tree, and it appears to be causing no damage, but we do not understand the purpose.”

Jace held the door to the library open for the queen and followed her inside. She motioned for him to have a seat and he was impressed by both the number of people in the room pouring over books, and the number of books available. “Where are the branches going? Or what are they doing?”

She looked at him curiously, “What?”

Jace felt a little self conscious as everyone in the room looked up from their books and stared. “If the roots are connected to the ley lines, what about the branches? I mean it seems logical that they’d be going somewhere or bearing fruit of some kind.”

The queen grinned. “That is a very good question Jace Herondale.” She sounded surprised.

“I’m not an idiot.” He said grumpily.

She shook her head, “Oh no please do not take offense. You are not at all what I expected you to be, that’s all.”

He rolled his eyes. “A hot headed, idiotic, anger prone, warrior?” He said a little disdainfully.

“I admit I had some preconceived prejudices. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to correct my assumptions.” She paused for a moment letting her hair fall around her shoulders, then seemingly making some decision or another she looked up at him a fierce look in her eyes. “It is still very new to us, being on such good terms with Shadowhunters. Your brother is a credit to your kind, and it fills me with joy to know you are also a credit. They, your brother and Magnus, have fought very hard for this balance between all of our kind. So, myself and my people will do our very best to bring the both of them home to you. And please accept my apologies for any slight, it was not my intention to insult.”

Jace wilted at her speech, his anger draining out of him entirely. No denying he was a sucker for someone speaking so highly of Alec. It was a damn shame so many people, so many Nephilim still questioned why he’d wanted Alec as his parabatai. Why he would always want Alec as his parabatai. He nodded his head respectfully, “Accepted, and thank you.”

“Now, about your theory, I will have the warlocks and Seelie experts begin testing immediately for magic reaching toward our realm to connect with the tree.” Just as she sent a fire message, a knock was heard on the door and a young Fae handmaiden let Clary in.

“Jace!” She said with a bright smile on her face as she came up beside him.

“Clary, is everything okay?” 

“Of course, I came to check on you.” She rested a palm on his face and kissed his nose making him roll his eyes at her silliness.

“It’s only been four hours. I’m fine.” Not wanting to let go of his grumpiness entirely, but not really wanting her to leave him he wrapped his arm around her waist and rested his forehead on her stomach.

She made a humming sound. “How’s your rune?”

He frowned. “It’s weird. I can’t feel anything. It’s like I don’t have it at all. I don’t sense anything awful, but the complete lack of it is freaking me out.”

She ran a hand through his hair and he couldn’t deny how soothing her touch was. “They’re going to be okay Jace.”

Not caring about the audience they most definitely had he lifted his head to glare into her beautiful face, “You don’t know that.”

She smiled down at him, gentle as ever, “I know that they’re together. I know that Magnus would destroy an entire dimension to keep Alec safe, and I know that Alec would…”

Jace stood up abruptly and turned to the queen, “You said the roots were connected to the ley lines here, is it possible the branches are connecting to a hell realm’s ley lines? Do they have different ley lines in hell realms?”

The Queen’s eyes went wide. “Two for two Jace Herondale.”

“You’re still acting surprised, I told you I wasn’t stupid.”

She laughed excitedly, “If it’s true that would mean we’re looking at some variation of Yggdrasil, maybe. What made you think that?”

“Edom was basically destroyed. What if the tree is trying to rebuild it?”

One of the Fae historians interrupted, “There have been no less than 7 hell dimensions destroyed in the past millennia. This tree hasn’t bloomed during any of those periods.”

Jace huffed and sat back down pulling Clary back into his embrace. “Well damn.”

“No it was a good theory, even if it’s not exact. You still may be on to something, demonic ley lines are not something we had given any thought for, perhaps we can narrow down the connection to the tree, if there is one, by searching for demonic ley line activity. It might be a wild goose chase, but I’d rather be doing something rather than nothing.”

Jace sighed, she was too right. His hand twitched wishing like hell he had something to fight that would bring his brother home. Alec was…..Alec was too important for him to just sit here doing nothing. “So ley lines are angelic then?”

The queen shook her head. “No, though I’m sure there’s a warlock scholar or two out there who would argue with me. Ley lines have no basis in either demonic or angelic power. Worlds without ley lines do not have magic, worlds with dying ley lines have very little to no magic. As far as we know, ley lines predate angels.”

“So where do they come from, how are they created?” Clary asks while gently petting Jace’s hair. 

“No one knows.” One of the Seelie historians said with a shrug.

“Not even the angels?” Clary asked bewildered.

“If they’ve said, they’ve never said it in the vicinity of someone who wrote it down or shared that knowledge with others. Warlocks and Seelie have been studying them for as long as recorded memory, and the only thing they know for sure, is that the lines can be corrupted, we need them for magic to exist, and they have no known beginning or end.” The historian pushed a book their way. It was small, no more than 100 pages, and Jace frowned at the title. ‘Ley Lines, the definitive guide’.

“Seriously.” Jace groaned and buried his head in Clary’s stomach. This was complete utter bullshit.


	8. So Long, this is Goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back in Limbo:  
> Jace and Alec have a chat, where we discover a bit of why Alec is closed off and why he pushes Magnus away. Annnndd, because Jace has been in Limbo for a bit spying on things, we get some insider information about what Limbo is and where the lost Shadowhunters are.
> 
> Also there's a warning for this chapter at the end, so if you're worried about reading something you don't like, skip to the end for the warning.
> 
> No one dies. You might want someone to though.

**Somewhere Out There**

**POV Archangel Michael**

Michael shifted his wings to try and release the pressure in his shoulders, the fluttering of his feathers tickling his exposed skin. His sword was buried in the dirt at his side, blood soaking into the soil of this realm. It was the same as it ever was. The landscape before him was littered with broken bodies, shredded wings soaked in blood, and the discarded weapons of the fallen. Dust curled around the field, casting a brown haze over the land.

Gabriel stood at his side his dark leathery wings expanded, sorrow and rage fighting for dominance on his face. Michael was always struck by how dangerous his brother looked in these settings. Why anyone would ever want to cross him, he had no idea? Gabriel was lean, lithe, and deadly; the embodiment of a weapon ready to strike. 

The light from the ravaged sky illuminated their horizon, where five battle hardened angels stood with weapons aloft and armor glistening. Michael didn’t know their names. He almost never did, not that it mattered. Gabriel scoffed as another stepped out of formation to advance upon them, “Why do we even bother brother?” Came his whisper soft voice across the chill of the air.

“They do not understand, and it is our duty to make them.” A fierce look of determination hardened Michael’s features as he drew his sword from the ground. It was never a pleasure to do what they did, but it was necessary. Gabriel flicked his wrist and silvery magic engulfed his hands. Michael nodded with satisfaction, even as the adrenaline of the battle flagged in him, his brother was still in fighting form. Through their bond, he felt only strength and a singular focus.

Moments later the Angels clashed. Michael fought sword to sword on the ground while Gabriel launched himself into the skies and his magic ignited the air around them. Flapping black wings cast a shadow over them and Michael knew the amateurs surrounding him had no clue what was about to happen. After his first century, this no longer made him sad, but it was entirely asinine. Neither his power or his brother’s power were for the taking. Ignorant angels believed that if they killed either one of them, they would rise in their place. And so, the two Archangels, God’s left and right hand, were forever defending their rank and position. Michael defended against an aggressive attack and rolled his eyes. Gabriel’s magic was building and the fools surrounding him were completely oblivious. No matter the extent of the legends surrounding the two of them, there would always be challengers.

Michael watched as silver sparks burned the angelic flesh of their opponents. A thick mist covered the ground and Michael smirked, Gabriel was no longer pulling punches. He clearly wanted this over, and Michael could hardly blame him. Once the mist had latched onto the warriors, it was easy enough for Gabriel to drop down from the sky, nearly invisible, and slip behind each one of them. A deft flick of the god blade in his hand, and 5 throats were cut in under a minute.

“Before you say it’s not fair, we have been here for over 24 hours brother, and time is growing short.” Gabriel said defensively.

Michael shrugged. “I had no intention of saying anything. You are good at your job, even if I don’t always agree with your methods.”

Gabriel raised a brow in his direction. “Are you injured?”

“No, what…”

Gabriel interrupted. “The only time you ever praise my skill is if you fear my immediate demise. That has happened less than a handful of times in our millennia.”

Michael grunted and turned his back on his brother. “Very funny.”

Gabriel shifted and his wings disappeared from view, quickening his pace to stand at Michael's side he asked seriously, “have you uncovered any further information about who is trying to kill you?”

“Besides these upstarts….No.” He said with a brief glance at his brother beside him.

“Now you lie. To what end Michael?”

He heaved a sigh and opened a portal, but before he could step through Gabriel’s form began to fade. Gabriel put his hands on his hips with a huff, “Honestly he could have waited at least another 10 minutes for me to finish interrogating you.” 

“Where’s the fun in that? I will see you shortly.” Michael placed a hand over his heart and watched his brother do the same, they bowed to one another and in the next instant Gabriel was gone. He didn’t curse at his brother’s disappearance, he only looked once again over the war torn horizon behind him. “I hope like hell we know what we’re doing.” 

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**Limbo**

**Alt!Alec POV**

Jace tilted his head and his eyes went wide, “Run.”

Alec didn’t hesitate. He had no way of knowing if this was his parabatai or some other Jace, but there probably wouldn’t ever be a time when he didn’t trust that face. Reaching for Magnus’ arm, Alec moved. 

Jace’s warning came a little too late.

A huge cloud of dark smoke erupted from the ground before them, swirling pressure like a tornado. Alec fell back a step and Magnus grabbed his arm to steady him. A higher demon emerged from the cloud, and when the dust cleared a portal opened with an endless stream of dark writhing bodies flowing through. Alec pulled the shiny new weapon from his shoulder and got to work. Arrow after arrow, unknown demon after unknown demon fell at his feet. Jace shouting warnings and advice completely unable to help. That was okay though, Magnus was at his back. And wasn’t that a revelation. 

The warlock moved with the grace of a dancer and the deadliness of a warrior. Every ball of magic he flung into the wave struck a deadly blow. His hands danced around him and more than once Alec had found himself distracted by the sheer beautiful drama of it all. Awe inspiring as he was, he was also incredibly intuitive because Alec never stumbled over him. When his arrows were past their usefulness and he drew his angel blade, Magnus just seemed to melt into Alec’s movements. Twirling around him and covering every single one of Alec’s blind spots. It was incredible. He was incredible. 

Alec’s sword deflected each attack, but his concentration slipped when he saw something in the distance. Was that an angel? That drop in focus nearly cost him his head. The higher demon had turned his attention to Alec. Magnus wasted no time in throwing himself in front of Alec, his body shielding Alec from whatever magical burst had come from the higher demon. Magnus had his arms stretched out, and then pulled them into his body like he was holding a basketball instead of a wad of power. The demon’s magic was red, but Magnus was holding onto it without much effort. Then his yellow green eyes went flinty, “Get back Alec.” he ordered. Apparently, the magic needed somewhere to go, and rather than push it back at the caster, Magnus absorbed it and promptly collapsed on the ground.

Alec was horrified, but not so much that he didn’t fire an arrow into the dead center of the higher demon’s skull. “Jace get us out of here.” Alec shouted as he pulled an unconscious Magnus into his arms. They’d taken out enough of the demons to hopefully give them a head start, and maybe the Angel would allow them to escape. Alec could only hope.

8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8

Alec dropped to the ground with a heaving breath. Jace had led them through some sort of forest maze, only for them to pop out beside a waterfall and a cave. 

“Here is safe. I promise. The demons don’t come out this far.”

“Where is here?” Alec asked.

Jace’s eyes went shifty and he shrugged. Alec could tell he was hiding something, but his worry over Magnus distracted him from pressuring Jace for answers. Laying the warlock down in the grass, he had felt Magnus’ breaths against his throat as he ran, so he knew he was alive. But damnit, there was no telling what the hell kind of effect that demon’s magic had on a warlock. He couldn’t use runes, and he knew jack shit about healing. He did a quick check to make sure Magnus wasn’t bleeding and then looked around. He could at least try to make him comfortable.

Magnus had other ideas though, because the minute he moved back the warlock’s hand shot out and grabbed him. “Are you okay?”

Alec moved in closer and said softly, “Of course I’m okay you idiot. You’re the one that got blasted with demon power, what made you think throwing yourself in front of demon magic was okay?”

Magnus’ gleaming cat eyes looked up at him and Alec fell just a bit further into them. Damnit. “I’m not arguing with you about this, it’s done. It’s over and I’m fine.” Magnus moved to sit up and Alec pressed him back down.

“Magnus. I’m serious, what the hell were you thinking?” He said warningly but the warlock rolled his eyes. Alec withered under Magnus’ intense stare, his face telegraphing “ _ I’m a centuries old warlock and I can bloody well take care of myself _ ”. Alec wanted to argue and push and demand that Magnus not be so damn reckless, but with Jace beside him now wasn’t the time. So he moved back to let Magnus breathe.

“I was thinking it would save your life, and it did, so drop it.” He pushed Alec back, but gently, and rose to his feet.

In his best conciliatory tone he asked much more calmly, “What did you even do? Why did it make you pass out?”

“Alexander,” Magnus said with a sigh. Then he looked over at Jace with a calculating stare. “The demon’s magic wasn’t entirely demonic. There was an undercurrent of angelic energy that I wasn’t expecting. It took me by surprise and my body did not react well to it.” 

“I was distracted on the field, I thought I saw an angel but I wasn’t sure. If the demon has angelic magic…..how is that even possible?”

“I was hoping Jace might be able to tell us.” Magnus said with an arch of his brow.

“Do you know where you are?” Jace asked instead, clearly deflecting.

“Limbo? How is that relevant?” Alec demanded.

“It is, trust me. Do you know what Limbo actually is?”

“Clearly we do not Shadowhunter, care to enlighten us?” Magnus crossed his arms over his chest impatiently.

“Limbo is the Garden of Eden.” Alec heard the words. The words made sense, but he couldn’t understand what Jace was even saying. 

“Like Adam and Eve?” He asked incredulously.

Jace nodded, “Yeah. Like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the apple, the snake, all of it happened here. When Adam and Eve left, the garden became locked in a kind of petrified state and was transformed into Limbo. Nothing here grows, but nothing here dies either. The demons and the angels have been meeting here for awhile. There’s a rebellion happening, but I don’t know much more than that.”

Alec watched Magnus’ face go through a series of confused expressions before he spoke wonderingly, “How exactly am I not dead then? Why are there demons here? If any legend we know is accurate, this place is the purview of Angels. Why are they working together with demons?”

Jace shrugged. “Not even close, this place isn’t the purview of anyone. And the angels are helping the demon rebellion. I’m not sure how long I’ve been here, but what I’ve discovered from spying on them, it seems like it’s been going on for centuries..”

“Doesn’t answer why the demon was using angelic power.” Magnus said suspiciously.

“Yeah I don’t know why, but maybe if we wake up the Shadowhunters, they’ll know more.”

Alec ran a frustrated hand through his hair. What the hell were they doing here? What was even the point of all of this? “You said Shadowhunter’s were imprisoned here, so where are they and what do we need to do to get them home?” Alec said questioning his brother and watching him closely. Was this even his parabatai? Resisting the urge to rub the empty spot where his rune used to be, he observed the other Shadowhunter. He moved the same, he looked the same, he had the a small scar on his cheek like his Jace had. Was any of that definitive proof? How could he test it?

“Yeah they’re being guarded by the tree, and I think all you would have to do is break the enchantment that surrounds them, but that’s probably a question for the warlock to answer.”

Magnus nodded, “Can you take us there?”

“We should probably lay low for a bit, let the demons settle for the day and then I can lead you there.” Alec didn’t want to hear it. 

“We go now. The quicker we get this over with the quicker we get out of here.” Alec said with a harsh command. Magnus looked between the two of them with a considering look, coming to some conclusion that Alec couldn’t even begin to guess.

Jace crossed his arms over his chest and gave Alec his best judgy stare. And something in his eyes gave Alec the answer he had been looking for, that did it. That right there sent him over the edge. This was his parabatai. Alec felt the tiny grasp he had on his control fray as the knowledge ripped him apart. Was this another punishment? Was everything that had happened to him since meeting Magnus one long punishment?

“I think I’ll go make use of the waterfall boys, that fight made me tense. You two should talk.” With that, Magnus turned on his heel and walked away from the brothers before Alec could say anything. Alec wanted to latch onto him like a lifeline, a part of him desperate to keep the warlock in his sights, but he also….he and Magnus weren’t like that. It wasn’t his right. No matter how badly he wanted, it was never going to be his. Filthy blooded Shadowhunter’s didn’t get happy endings. So he turned away from the water and stomped into the cave. Darkness was where he belonged.

“I can see why you like him.” Jace said with a smirk drawing him out of his gloomy thoughts.

Alec backpedaled a little and looked at his parabatai horrified, “I do not.”

“Please, it’s all over your face. Have you slept with him yet?”

Alec felt his face go tight with a glower. “Jace shut up.”

“Nah don’t think I will. He’s a good one.” Jace smirked and chuckled at Alec’s increasingly horrified expression.

“He’s a warlock and I’m a Shadowhunter. And besides that he’s not even interested.”

“You’re an idiot. An idiot that should follow him into the water.” Jace waved a hand at the mouth of the cave. 

“Jace…” Alec said with a long suffering sigh.

“What’s the problem? It can’t be the Clave because you haven’t given a shit about them since you came out and they pulled that reconditioning bullshit on you. And it can’t be that he’s a warlock because I can see it on your face when he does magic that you think it’s hot. So what? What’s stopping you from going after him.”

“They’ll kill him.” Alec turned his back on Jace and sat down. Pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. He hadn’t ever told anyone what had happened. Leaning against the cool wall of the cave, he wondered if Jace would even believe him.

“Who? Who are you so damned afraid of?” 

“The Angels Jace. they made it pretty damn clear after you died that it was only by the grace of god and my years of training that I was alive.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“After you died the Clave wanted to make an example of me. A cleverly built narrative was constructed about how my corruption was fostered by my association with the Downworld. They wanted to execute me as a traitor for failing to protect you, under the premise that I was some sort of sleeper agent.”

Jace growled. “That sounds like some Clave bullshit. What happened?”

“The angels stepped in.”

Jace was looking at him in confusion. “They saved you?”

Alec shook his head. “No brother, they re-educated me. Not like the Clave tried to do by beating the gay out of me, it was different.”

“Alec, what the fuck did they do?”

“I don’t know how long it went on, and as far as I can tell no one even knew I was gone. The Clave had me locked in a room in Alicante, and one day Aldertree came with two angels. They took me somewhere, I don’t know where.” Alec took a deep breath, closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall.

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**Somewhere in Alicante (Demon free world)**

**Alec’s flashback**

_ The door opened and Alec moaned with the pain pulsing through him. Jace was gone, his rune was a pink scar on his body that would never be whole again. He would never be whole again. He didn’t care who was standing over him, all he wanted was death. If they hadn’t come to kill him, then what did it even matter. Aldertree had sworn he would die, that the Clave would see him executed for treason. Alec drifted in and out of consciousness, but even he knew the Clave didn’t drag its feet with traitors. If they were going to execute him, it would have been done already. _

_ Hands grabbed his arms and he blinked blearily into the darkness of the room. “Who?” But before he could get the question out, a portal appeared. On the other side of it, his stomach heaved. He hadn’t reacted so strongly to a portal in years, but in his weakened state his body was heavily opposed to the mode of travel. The hands dropped him as he dry heaved on the ground. “Where?” He rasped. _

_ They ignored him. _

_ Alec rolled onto his back and looked up at a dark ceiling. He wasn’t sure if it was the delirium or some spell, but he was in a castle chamber of some kind. Stone floors, stone walls, no windows. _

_ Time passed, he had no way of knowing how much, when the hands were back dragging him onto some sort of stone slab. _

_ “Lightwood, do you know why you’re here?” Came a resonant voice from the shadows, but Alec felt the power in it. Ancient and heavy. _

_ “Don’t care. Kill me.” He said with a whisper. _

_ The voice chuckled and Alec felt a shiver of fear shake through him.  _

_ “I have no interest in your death, only your blood, filthy as it is.” _

_ Alec was confused, so very confused. “What?” _

_ “You are a disease within your kind, you are an infection, and I’m going to burn the sickness out of you.” Alec felt the hands on his body again, but this time they were strapping him down to the slab. He didn’t fight. There was no fight left in him. Jace was dead. There was nothing inside of him anymore, no point in all of this. The Clave had been increasingly throwing him on the frontline in hopes of a demon killing him since he publicly announced he was gay. Now Jace was dead because of it. He killed his brother. They could do whatever they wanted to him, it didn’t matter.  _

_ Alec felt the magic around him build, and then fire and pain. His flesh was being seared off, magic burned the stamina rune on his chest and Alec screamed. The creature above him was carving out his runes. Jerking against the straps holding him down, he screamed and screamed. Taking deep gulping breaths he grit his teeth. He just had to make it until it was over. And it would be over forever. His body would go into shock from the pain, and then he’d never have to wake up again. _

_ The creature ran a hand over the skin he’d seared off, healing it. Then he began again. This was madness. He was ripping out the runes that covered Alec’s body, burning the flesh, healing the flesh, reapplying the runes and tearing them out all over again. Alec’s blood flowed in streams over the stone slab into the floor, his body in cold shock from the pain and healing. _

_ When Alec had no more sound to give, his throat raw from his screams, lights came on around the room, softly illuminating everything and Alec turned to look at his captor. Horror and shame choked him. Above him stood a beautiful man, pale alabaster skin, crystal clear blue eyes, and beautiful golden wings stretched out behind him. Alec could barely comprehend it, had the pain made him hallucinate? _

_ The creature, the angel smiled a cold dark smile down at him, “I am no dream abomination. I am here to cleanse you.” _

_ With those words Alec checked out. His mind collapsed on itself and he drifted away. Pain and burning fire were the only things he could feel, and he had no idea how long he was strapped to the table when it ended. Hands pulled him from the table, the lights had been dimmed, and he tried to orient himself. “You will obey the Clave, you will work for the good of your kind, and you will under no circumstances associate with the downworld any further. You will not associate with men. You will atone in penance for your life. You are now the weapon of the Clave, you serve no other purpose.” The angel’s words were harsh, but Alec felt nothing.  _

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Alec came out of the memory to see Jace’s face wracked with fury. “Those monsters.”

“I was in a coma for a while. And when I came out of it, Izzy said it had been three days, but I think the angels messed with people’s minds. I think I was gone for a long time. I know the deflect rune was burned off at least seven times.”

“Alec, there is nothing wrong with you. You’re the best of us, and if they can’t see that, then fuck them.” Jace said with impassioned wrath.

“You don’t understand Jace. They’re powerful. More powerful than anything I’ve ever felt. I can’t be around Magnus. The longer I’m around him, the more danger he’s in. Yes they need to be stopped, but I have to do it on my own. I can’t bring someone else down with me. Not again.” Alec was so tired. He was just so so so tired.

“That’s bullshit Alec. You were not responsible for what happened to me, and you can’t do this alone.”

Alec rolled his head to the side and looked out of the cave into the sunlight, “I know, but I can’t risk him. It’s, I barely came back from what happened to you Jace, if something happens to him...I won’t be able to…” Alec took a deep breath to stave off the panic at the thought of Magnus dying. Then he remembered the final thing, the thing he wasn’t sharing with anyone, the thing that had allowed him to get out of the bed and keep living.

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_ The hands that gripped him, drug him back to a room where they threw him on a bed. He fell into his mind, and hoped he wouldn’t find his way back out.  _

_ After darkness consumed him and surrounded him, a gentle hand rested upon his shoulder and he opened his eyes. A man stood over him, his eyes held an ocean of pain, dark hair fell into his eyes and large leathery black wings stretched out behind him. He touched Alec’s cheek and whispered, “I will see you avenged.”  _

_ When Alec closed his eyes, peace had wrapped around him like a comforting blanket, and he’d opened his eyes in his dreams to see the eyes that would offer him salvation. _

Blinking the memory away, he felt his determination rise. He would be damned if he would allow anything to destroy Magnus.

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Jace had given him some time to collect himself, but insisted that he go retrieve Magnus, saying he’d been gone far too long and they needed to get going if they were going to save the Shadowhunters. Alec grumbled but finally relented. The little waterfall wasn’t extravagant, but it was large enough to get in a good wash and as Alec got closer he sucked in a breath. 

Magnus was….he almost didn’t have words. 

He was waist deep in the pool, his head tilted back letting the water fall over him. Steam rose up from the falling water, so he could only assume that Magnus had heated it with magic. The man was a god. Beautiful dark skin glistening with the water beaded on his skin, the curve of his muscled arms, the taper of his waist into the water made Alec sweat with how badly he wanted to see more. To see everything. To have Magnus. To have his dream. He wanted nothing more than to wade out and join him. It was a problem. One he needed to get under control. Control was the only thing that would keep them all safe.

After Magnus let out a groan, and Alec felt his body go taut with the sound, it was an exercise in restraint to keep himself from getting hard. Alec snapped himself out of his daze and cleared his throat. “We should get going?” His raspy voice echoing in the quiet glade.

Magnus didn’t turn around in shock, which told him that the warlock knew he was there. Had known he was there the whole time. He just turned so his back was to Alec, and looked over his shoulder with a smile. “I’ll be out in a moment darling.” The shift and play of his muscles made Alec twitch so he turned away before he did something he would regret.

It took everything in him not to turn around and watch. He could hear Magnus getting out of the water, and he felt the pull in the air as his magic sparked. “I’m decent.”

Only when Alec faced him again, he could barely be called decent. Bare chest with water droplets made Alec’s mouth water as they slid down his beautiful skin. Magnus had put on dark purple harem pants with knee high black boots, and in his hands he held a tank top that he’d not put on yet. Alec cleared his throat as Magnus approached him, keeping his eyes locked on his face.

Magnus stood beside him and raised a hand to place it on the tattoo just under Alec’s shirt on his collar bone. “You never asked me how I knew you had a tattoo.”

Alec didn’t jerk away from the warlock, but it was close as he anxiously looked at him, “how….how did you know? I thought you recognized Ragnor’s magic and you just…” Alec said stuttering as he looked down cursing his own weakness. He hadn’t stuttered in years. Between the angels and the Clave, every ounce of weakness had been ripped out of him. Magnus made him feel shaky and unsure of himself.

Magnus put his finger under Alec’s chin and lifted his face until they were looking into each other’s eyes, and Alec was amazed to see nothing but gentle acceptance. “No angel, it wasn’t Ragnor’s magic that I felt, it was mine. He’s one of the few warlocks I know that can create the kind of bond that you have.” Alec latched onto the word bond.

“Bond? What does that mean?”

Magnus smiled softly, “It’s not invasive in the way a bond sounds, perhaps that is the wrong word entirely. Ragnor took a piece of my magic and he gave it to you for protection. It baffled me when I finally figured out what he’d done. For a warlock beneficiary to give a Shadowhunter a piece of another warlock’s power, he must have been motivated by something truly moving.” Alec gaped. He wanted to pull away, but Magnus had him under his thrall. “But for the life of me, I can’t picture what it could have been if you had never even met me.” Magnus’ fingers left his chin and he raised his palm to Alec’s face to cup his cheek. His voice had gotten softer as he continued to question Alec with his eyes. It was like Magnus sensed the turmoil in Alec and wanted to soothe him. Alec desperately wanted to let him, but that way lay danger.

“I don’t know…” Alec stuttered again.

Magnus’ eyes went flinty, “Shhh.” He moved a finger to Alec’s lips, quieting him then shifting closer into Alec’s space, he brought their chests flush and heat rolled through Alec in a wave. “Ragnor would have never parted with a piece of me, unless he knew something. What was it, Alexander?”

Alec could barely stand the pressure of the tension between them, a weight had settled in his chest that absolutely terrified him. He’d never felt this way about a person. Magnus’ eyes held him captive and he blurted out what he promised himself he wouldn’t, “a dream, he gave me my dream.” Alec couldn’t stop himself, desperate to feel, he put his hands on Magnus’ waist and gripped him tightly. Desperately. He could feel the dampness of Magnus’ skin, and a shiver rocked through him.

Magnus lifted up on his toes and just before he pressed their lips together he paused, asking for permission, and it was a permission Alec couldn’t give him. He felt his breath catch with the pain of it, then he jerked back and put his hands up. “Magnus I can’t…”

Magnus frowned, a sadness building in his eyes. “Of course darling, my apologies.”

“It’s not that I don’t want...I just can’t.” Alec said furious with himself, and wishing for the first time in his life he’d been born as something other than a Shadowhunter.

Magnus backed away another step, the sadness making his eyes darker, and pulled the black tank top over his head. He snapped his fingers and a dark purple jacket appeared in his hand. He shrugged into it, and walked up the small incline toward the cave where Jace waited for them. “Say no more Shadowhunter. I understand. Please let us go save your brethren.” Magnus’ words were sure and firm, and Alec was beyond grateful that he didn’t just portal away and abandon him. He would have deserved it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning:  
> There's a bit of torture in the italicized flashback pieces, so if that squicks you out you can skip it.


	9. May we Meet Again in Another Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus and Alec meet an Angel. The Angel. An Archangel 🤣

**Demon Infested world**

**HEA!Alec POV**

“So it’s like sex magic then?” Alec asked suspiciously. Magnus cackled beside him. “Why in the world would a summoning spell require sex!?” Alec was sitting in the little nook he’d made for himself in the library. He’d happily found someone’s discarded clothes in one of the many abandoned rooms, and was now sporting an over sized grey comfy sweater and black jeans just slightly too short for him. Magnus had rolled his eyes but refrained from making comments, Alec figured his facial expressions were probably a factor in why Magnus said nothing. Soft sweaters made him happy and his husband could just deal. His boots were by the door and his weapons on the desk in the event they became necessary, but he was about as relaxed as he ever was in the institute. 

“Summoning spells in general are something I’m quite familiar with, and believe me more than half the recorded spells have some sort of bodily fluid required, but you’re right it’s a bit strange for full on sex to be required. And it’s not precisely sex, it’s almost like it’s asking for a bonded pair.”

Alec’s eyes went wide. “Like Parabatai?”

Magnus shook his head, “No, your people are adamant that Parabatai bonds are not romantic, and this is asking for a romantic bond.”

“Maybe it’s because we’re summoning Gabriel and one of the ancient legends about him is that he hands souls to the angel of conception. Maybe this is some sort of link to that.”Alec scrunched his brow, “we can’t actually do the baby thing though, so maybe not?” He looked over at Magnus and his husband was giving him a “seriously” look, Alec giggled and Magnus laughed. He lightly slapped Alec’s head and pulled another book from the table.

“There are four pages of notes from Ragnor’s library on summoning Gabriel…” Magnus opened the book and laid it on Alec’s lap pointing to one of the paragraphs. “There’s no known written summoning of this angel, he’s only ever provided visions, and it’s been categorically married couples every time. Well that we even know about. Four pages is not a lot to go on.”

“Catarina was furious with you for going to Ragnor’s lair by the way.” Magnus hummed at him, but shrugged his shoulders. Alec looked around and after seeing no one lurking about he snaked his arm around Magnus’ waist and pulled him into his lap shoving the book to the side. His husband made a huffing noise but turned to kiss him on the cheek.

“Alexander, focus.” He said imperiously, but Alec was done. There came a point in every Nephilim’s studies where he had to throw his hands up and say enough is enough. Especially if that Nephilim was married. Especially if his husband was Magnus Bane. And most definitely if said husband was currently only wearing his silky pajamas. It was driving him to distraction and he was about done with pouring over dusty old books. Magnus took note of the gleam in his eye and leaned down to press their mouths together. 

Alec pushed forward to deepen the kiss, but Magnus pulled back. Alec was in no way ashamed of the full on pout he directed at his husband. Magnus kissed him quickly with a grin. “This angel is not going to summon himself darling.”

Alec rolled his eyes. “Why not just put the summoning circle together like the vision, and then we can see what happens?” Magnus pulled out of his arms and off of his lap and began pacing around the table. 

“It’s not that the idea doesn’t have merit,” he began a troubled crease in his brow.

“But..” Alec prompted when he looked like he wasn’t going to say anything else.

Magnus shrugged, “I can’t predict the outcome Alexander. I don’t know what will happen if we do that and I…”

Alec stood and marched up to his husband, “What did you feel when you saw the summoning?”

Magnus crossed his arms over his chest, “Wonder, confusion, but mostly a determined kind of purpose.”

Alec nodded, “I have a feeling that if you do this summoning a lot of our questions will get answers, and I don’t think they would have gone to the trouble of sending you to that world to see the vision if it wasn’t world shatteringly important.” Magnus’ description of the horned angel and the halo’d demon had made Alec question every lexicon, every single text, every bit of historical knowledge his people passed down. Magnus said the spiral labyrinth had no entries of the two as far as he was aware, but he wasn’t a historian. However, it seems like a pretty huge thing to let fall from memory, the fact that angels could have demon features. Or was it demons that could have angel features. Alec was dying of curiosity.

Magnus sighed, “You’re right of course, I’m just being overly cautious I suppose. Let’s get started shall we.”

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**Demon Infested world**

**HEA!Magnus POV**

It took Magnus less time that he had imagined to put together the summoning circle, and a big part of him wanted to banish Alec from the Library. Worry for his husband and all the ways this could go wrong made him bite the lip gloss from his lips. However, the vision had shown a warlock and a Nephilim, so he didn’t have a choice. The items for the circle were easily summoned, and he carefully drew out the runes for Alec to draw in the pentagram. The finished circle was more like a glyph than a summoning circle, but Magnus just shrugged and got in position. Taking Alec’s hand he took a deep breath and said the words he heard in the vision.

A punch of power rocked him back on his heels, and it was all he could do to keep Alec’s hand gripped in his own. This. This was what the research Ragnor had done was alluding to. Magnus felt every single wall he’d ever built in his mind shred as they were savaged by the power exploding from the circle. Alec jerked him closer and he could see by the look of pure horror on his husband’s face it had happened to him as well. 

Their minds were completely exposed to one another. Magnus could see every fear, every pain, every joy, all of it written like a book he could read. From the look on his husband’s face, it was the same for him. Magnus surged forward and kissed Alec, desperate for some sort of affirmation. Weak and vulnerable they clung to one another as the power pulsed three times, shaking the walls of the institute and surprising Magnus that no one came rushing to inspect the commotion.

The power leveled out and a golden light enveloped them soothing away the ravaged shredded feeling from before. Gasping he completed the spell and Alec gripped him tighter. Both of them were shaking with the vulnerability of having their minds torn apart. “Alexander.” Magnus said with a hoarse groan.

“Ssshhh” his husband whispered into his shoulder where he’d dropped his head. “Hurts.”

Magnus ran a soothing hand across his back.

From the ground an inky black mist began to drift from the runes until it blanketed the circle in a cloud. White flickering shocks of magic floated around the cloud like a thunderstorm, sparking here and there with bursts of glittery white fire. As the golden light faded, a new weight dropped on both of their shoulders, wind whipped around the room. Alec squeezed Magnus tighter and asked him if everything was okay. Shouting over the forceful winds blowing about.

Magnus tried to answer, but Alec couldn’t hear his words. A screeching wail had erupted from the ground, the white fire exploded blinding the warlock and the Shadowhunter. When the black spots in his vision cleared, Magnus finally saw movement within the circle. A man was crouched, entirely naked in the center of the circle surrounded by the black smoke like clouds. His black shaggy hair was hanging limply in clumps, and he had long jagged scars over his entire body. The scars were blinding on his porcelain skin.

Magnus stepped back pulling Alec with him, but he couldn’t escape the circle. The magic built into a crescendo of pressure and pain. Alec wrapped his arms around Magnus, and a moment later his ears popped. With it, all of the magic drained from the circle, the black smokey clouds dissipated, and all that remained was the pale skinned naked man in the circle.

He looked up from his crouched position, and Magnus had to draw in a deep breath of fascination. His eyes, shaped like Magnus’ phoenix eyes, were a galaxy. Stars and planets floated in his gaze, twinkling and drawing Magnus into an abyss. 

The being blinked. 

His eyes were glamoured into a soft brown. 

Magnus felt his heart shatter with both grief and pain. Tears streamed down his face. His husband stood by him bewildered. “Magnus, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” Running his hands over him looking for any clue as to why his husband had suddenly burst into tears. His fingers gently wiping away the tears and making soothing strokes down the back of his neck.

Magnus shook his head unable to put words to the grief that had come from the angel’s eyes hiding the world from him. It was as if he were looking into a fountain of knowledge for a brief second, only to have it torn away from him. “I’m fine darling.” He said with a sniff, and a comforting pat to Alec’s arm.

The Angel waved his hand, in a move reminiscent of Magnus’ own gestures, and clothes appeared on his body. Black. If Magnus didn’t know any better he’d say the man took items from Alec’s wardrobe. He quirked a brow seemingly knowing exactly what Magnus was thinking. 

“Magnus.” His husband snapped losing his patience, wanting his attention and more than a flippant assurance that he was fine. Alexander took his safety very seriously.

He finally took his eyes from the Angel before him. “Sorry darling. I’m sorry. I just…” He trailed off, not really knowing how to explain to his husband that the creature standing before them held power unlike anything he’d ever felt in his life. It was like standing in the presence of pure unaltered magic. Not demonic. Not angelic. It was unlike anything he’d ever witnessed. And, the part that utterly bewildered him was that this being was familiar. Magnus was trying to delve into his memory, for the Angel to be so familiar surely he had met him before? 

“Magnus Bane.” came the melodic voice of the Angel in the circle, then he did something Magnus had to gape at, the ancient creature of untold magic dropped into a courteous bow. He turned, “Alexander Lightwood.” He bowed again. Magnus was suffused with a deep confusion.

“I am Gabriel, Archangel of Souls and the left hand of God. Please follow me.” With those words he turned with a smooth glide of his heels and walked away from the both of them. His wings didn’t make an appearance, but Magnus recognized his face from the statue in the desert world. He looked over at his husband, and Alec was getting more and more tense by the minute. Taking off with a purposeful stride, Alec followed after the Angel who was currently making his way out of the institute.

“Wait a minute” he yelled at the back of the retreating Angel, but Gabriel did not pause or slow down, just kept walking. Every time Alec would get close the Angel would suddenly be out of his reach again. Magnus followed realizing that magic was carrying them somewhere. He looked around him when the Angel finally slowed and realized they were in a cavern of sorts.

The angel stood still, the darkness of his clothes made him somewhat difficult to see in the dim light of the cave. His voice still sounded like a beautiful sonata,“Magnus, do you know what this is?” The Angel gestured toward the ground but Magnus could see nothing so he shook his head. Gabriel nodded, “the power is almost completely dried up. It’s an angelic ley line.”

Magnus’ gaze snapped back to the crevice in the craggy floor below him, but still there was nothing. He still took a careful step back. The ley line energy was unpredictable, and he was still the son of a demon.

Gabriel stood with his arms over his chest, a severe look in his brown eyes and said gravely, “I need you to restore it.” Magnus blinked, but before he could get a word in, Alec had slipped between him and the angel again.

“He’s not doing a damn thing until you answer some questions.” Alec snarled, and Magnus held his breath. Wanting to shout at his husband for antagonizing a being with more power in his pinky finger than Magnus had seen….well ever, but at the same time warm all over because Alec was defending him. Gabriel raised a brow and looked passed Alec’s shoulder to Magnus. He couldn’t be entirely sure, but he thought he saw a brief flicker of amusement in the Archangel’s eyes.

“I see.” He nodded his head. “I don’t suppose it occurred to you that if this world loses it’s angelic magic source you’ll die.” The arched brow of superiority made him think of Maryse of all people, but more directly it had the distinct flavor of Lightwood and Magnus began to suspect. Clearly, this Angel knew how to express his opinion but why was it making Magnus flash back to every Lightwood he’d ever met. 

Shaking his head and rolling his eyes at the posturing, Magnus stepped forward. Alec spluttered behind him, but Magnus was intrigued. “What do you need me to do?”

“Damnit Magnus.” 

The angel was sincerely amused, and wasn’t really trying to hide it. He huffed a bit and dropped into a crouch then motioned for Magnus to crouch down beside him. His silk pajamas were not faring well against the rough stone, but needs must. Gabriel lowered his chin until Magnus could only see the top of his dark head. “You need to break the roots here, can you feel it?”

Magnus squinted, not really understanding, but holding his hand out and pulling his magic to the surface. “I don’t feel….”

The angel cut him off, “patience.” His hand came to rest on Magnus’ shoulder, and then stroked down the length of his arm to his wrist. Alec made a strangled noise beside them, and Magnus had to make himself not turn to face his husband. “Focus”. The angel’s whisper soft words made Magnus’ head spin, and then he felt it.

Roots were exactly right, they were twined down below the surface of the earth, dry and thirsty. “What do I?”

The angel stroked his fingers over the back of Magnus’ wrist again magic swirling between them, “Break through the tangle, and feed it.” Magnus didn’t understand at first, but then he realized that the angel meant for him to syphon his power into the ley lines. Why didn’t the angel just do it himself, why did he need Magnus as a conduit?

Before he could ask if the being was out of his mind, Alec placed his hand on the Angel’s hand currently wrapped around Magnus’ wrist. “If you don’t get your hands off of my husband…”

Gabriel turned sharply and faced Alec head on, his eyes were blazing, the glamour dropped and for some reason Alec wasn’t nearly as drawn into them as Magnus had been. In fact he looked like he was about two seconds away from beheading the powerful angel.

Before it could escalate Magnus stood up and backed away from the Angel, grabbed the pale wrist and pulled the angel’s magic, a bright cerulean blue, from the being and let it flow into the earth. The whole thing was over in less than a minute, but his husband’s face was thunderous.

“Delightful, your husband will live another day.” Gabriel said with a sarcastic smirk shot towards Alec, but the Shadowhunter wasn’t having it. He shifted his stance and pulled his seraph blade from behind him and had it at the angel’s neck in less than a heartbeat. Magnus wasn’t proud of the tiny shriek he let out. 

“If you so much as think about…” Alec was in a full blown fury, and Magnus was struggling to understand why. His husband was not this uncontrolled, hell this was closer to something Jace would pull. He wanted to reach out and snatch the blade from Alec and rail at him for being an idiot, but he was afraid to step between the two of them. Alec was surrounded by an aura of golden light, and the Angel’s blue power was pulsing out of him.

Gabriel stepped forward, breaking off Alec’s words, heedless of the sword at his throat, and whispered something in his ear that Made Alec’s eyes go so wide they looked in danger of popping from his head. Then the pale hand rose up to touch Alec’s cheek, and the Nephilim deflated in an instant. Magnus was beyond confused, and the throbbing power of the Ley line was beginning to give Magnus a headache and he really just wanted to get out of here.

Gabriel turned to look at Magnus, a soft smile playing on his lips, “back to the institute children, we have much work to do.”

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**Home world**

**Jace**

Slipping from the bed he shared with Clary was difficult, but the pounding in his head was making him see stars. They were still in the Fae realm and no closer to understanding the tree, and every hour it grew more and more. Branches heavier and longer, the twinkling lights brighter, and the flowers blooming as big as his fist. The Queen still hadn’t let anyone back in close to the thing, but they watched it all through enchanted mirrors.

Jace walked down the hall, careful to keep his steps silent, they were all exhausted and he didn’t want to disturb anyone if he didn’t have to. Clary had fallen into their bed and gone to sleep immediately, but Jace had been restless for hours. He thought he’d felt a surge, something in his Parabatai bond, but it was there and gone so quickly it could have just been a phantom imagining. His need for Alec to be returned was making him twitchy. He deserved every last bruise Alec had dished out, if he had felt anything like this when Jace had disappeared. Watching the pattern in the floor, he wondered if Alec was struggling like he was? If he was okay?

Jace sighed and looked up from the floor, then cursed himself for a complete idiot. He’d been distracted by the patterns, and somehow wound up beside the door that led to the garden where the tree was. He turned around to head back toward the kitchen, but he couldn’t. His feet were stuck. Jerking back and forth he tried to free himself, and just as he was about to shout for someone to come release him when he saw something through the branches. 

Clary.

She sat on one of the larger branches coming off of the trunk, in a white gown he’d never seen before. Her hair was hanging in fiery red curls down her back. Her eyes were closed and Jace could tell something was wrong. He surged forward to get to her, without any thought to having left her in their room, and the magic released him. Sprinting he crossed the glade and threw himself on the tree, the minute his hand landed on the trunk his world went white.

He was lying in some kind of milky pool that wasn’t wet, a soft kind of aromatic fog surrounded him. Crawling towards him on all fours was Clary. She slid herself up his body and straddled his waist, clenching her thighs around him. “Jace?” She whispered. “What’s happening?”

The flickering lights, the magic fairy dust looking stuff floating around them, Flowers bloomed in every direction. Off of his periphery, too far to make it out, was a darkness creeping into the vision of white. He tried to shake his head, to lift up so he could look around, but all he could do was stare at Clary. Captivated. Hypnotized.

Fuck.


	10. Like Strangers Passing By

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec and Magnus take a walk, and things get twisted, and there's another tree.

**Limbo**

**Alt!Magnus**

“We’ve been walking for hours Jace, how far is it?” Magnus asked plaintively. Jace looked over his shoulder from where he was walking in front of them and raised an eyebrow. His eyes told Magnus he was being a giant baby and should shut up immediately. Magnus rolled his eyes in response. Alec was walking a few paces behind him, and had been silent since they’d left the cute little waterfall earlier. Magnus still wanted to kick the idiot man, but honestly it was neither the time nor the place to initiate anything. He’d probably crossed a line, but Alec had just let him walk away and now refused to speak to him. Magnus wasn’t mad, he was just frustrated.

Of course he’d rushed to Magnus’ side several times when he stumbled over large rocks or unexpected holes. Embarrassment made him flush when he thought about the butterflies that had given him. It had been so long since another person made him nervous, he wanted to both cling to the man and run away from him. Alec was handling Magnus’ behavior far better than he could have anticipated.

To be honest, with what he knew of Shadowhunters, Alec’s reaction could have been a lot worse. Their society wasn’t typically known for its acceptance of rainbows and glitter. In fact, Alec had been oddly accepting of him every step of their journey. It was a little staggering. Not to mention that pesky little tattoo he had on his chest.

Despite the relationship between their counterparts, clearly they were from a magical candy land, this Alec seemed to come from a world where the Clave was just as harsh as the Clave from Magnus’ own world. But he still had only pushed Magnus away from him instead of taking off his head.

Magnus had to admire that. He may have made Alec uncomfortable, on several occasions, but he’d never proven to be anything other than tolerant. He should apologize, but he wasn’t sure if Alec even wanted to hear it. Looking over his shoulder briefly he took in the focused way in which Alec observed his surroundings.

Always looking for a threat, this one was. His face was a serious face, and Magnus knew he’d probably be head over heels in love if he ever saw the man smile. That face deserved to smile. Magnus sighed, what could make a man so young, so incredibly stoic. He hadn’t tried to hear what the two Shadowhunter’s had discussed in the cave, but he’d caught a glimpse or two of Alec’s anguished face, and he could well imagine what the Clave had done to twist him up so badly. Torture had been his first guess. It was a miracle of his character that allowed Alexander to be in the same room with a downworlder, much less help one. Magnus rubbed his arms as a chill overtook him, was it all fake. The consideration, the ease, the innocent curiosity, could he be biding his time? Magnus looked again. No, his instincts weren’t that bad. Alec was genuine. 

Jace finally came to a stop, and Magnus was pulled away from his thoughts of Alec as he looked over what appeared to be an entrance to a garden.

“We have to make it through the garden, after that it should be cake.” Jace said solemnly.

“So why are we stopping?” Alec demanded.

Jace shrugged his shoulders, “This place is dangerous. We need to be careful.”

No sooner had the words come out of his mouth, than two angels appeared in front of them. Both of them were blonde, one was wearing white drawstring pants and a tank top, the other was wearing roman style armor in red leather and a white tunic. Very greek the two of them looked, thought Magnus as the one in pajamas waved his hand and Jace’s visage disappeared. Alec came from behind, his bow drawn, and a furious shout “Where did you send him?”

The pajama clad angel shrugged. “He’ll be fine, the two of you however….”

The armor wearing angel snapped, “how did you get here? Who do you serve?”

Alec didn’t bother answering, just drew his bow even tighter, and snarled “Bring my brother back.”

The two angels looked at one another and before Magnus could blink, the pajama wearing one started throwing out blasts of power. Magnus threw up a shield, but the angel power was intense and began to drain him almost immediately. Alec was not standing idyll. He shot off several arrows, one of them grazed pajama boy and blood welled up on his arm. The one in armor shouted his disbelief, and took off at a dead sprint toward Alec and Magnus. 

Alec threw the bow over his shoulder and pulled the enchanted blade from its scabbard. Meeting the angel blow for blow. Magnus had gone on the offensive as well, but it was no use. The angel was a hell of a lot stronger than him and his magic was siphoning off much more quickly than usual. Alec was actually winning his fight when Magnus looked over. The hilt of his sword had just connected with the Angel’s face, knocking him out, when Magnus decided they should retreat. He barely had anything left, so he grabbed Alec’s arm and pulled him into the garden.

The pajama clad angel was cursing them, but too invested in his armor clad friend to chase after them. They ran for over an hour before Magnus came to a stop after walking through an archway of large shrubs, breathing heavily he looked around. They were in an overgrown English garden. Tall hedges created walled off gardens, there would probably be statues and fountains the further on they explored, with pretty roses, willow trees, and butterflies, which made him think of Ragnor in London. Having no idea where Jace had been leading them, he couldn’t say if they were lost; but, he was almost entirely out of magic. Not good.

“Damnit.” Alec muttered, running his hands angrily through his hair. “What the hell was that?”

“Guardian angels would be my guess.” Magnus said flippantly, only for Alec to swing his glare directly onto him. Magnus winced. “Jace is fine I’m sure. They seemed more lower tier than higher tier, so I don’t think they can actually hurt him being a ghost and all. It’s just us they could easily obliterate.” Alec deflated a little.

“Jace mentioned a tree,” Alec pointed at the horizon, “pretty sure that’s the one we need.”

Magnus had to agree, the thing was larger than any tree he’d ever seen. It’s branches looked as if they reached the sky, but too much cloud cover obscured the top. The trunk was as wide as a car, and that’s what Magnus could see of it over the hedges. Even the fae realms didn’t have trees as large as this. The square of the garden they were in had three exits, forward seemed to be the most direct path and Alexander must have thought the same because he took off. 

When they stepped through the archway in the hedges, Alec held his hand out to keep Magnus from going any further. “Goddamnit.” he said in a whisper and crouched down. 

The archway had led them into a cavern, deeply underground, with a ledge hanging over a chasm. Alec jerked Magnus out of the way, and hauled him up onto the ledge beside him. “You know manhandling is considered….” Magnus started to say.

“Hush Magnus.” Alec said as he pointed to a dark spot over the ledge. A swarm of demons were coalescing and if Magnus wasn’t careful he’d give away their position. And with his magic at less than full power, they needed to be really damn careful.

Magnus turned his eyes toward the demons and took in a gulp of air. He turned away and the movement pushed him further into Alec’s arms. Magnus put his forehead on Alec’s shoulder, trying to get his bearings. He just needed a minute to breath. Alec let him and he was once again surprised as the hard man he leaned against tried to offer him a bit of comfort. “Should we step back and try one of the other entrances, maybe they're all gateways like this one.”

“Yeah,” Alec whispered, “Unless they’re saying anything you think we should know.” Magnus tuned into the demon activity below him and heard nothing out of the ordinary, so he shook his head. Alec turned and put his back to the ledge and protectively herded Magnus back through the archway. The garden hadn’t changed a bit, but Magnus was far more wary of what the other two archways might contain. 

“Should we test them separately?” He asked. “Just poke our heads in and see what we see?”

Alec nodded and they each took an archway. Magnus leaned across the threshold, and his archway just had more garden. He quickly pulled back and turned to Alec whose face was beet red. “Mine just has more garden, what about yours?”

“Dead end.” Alec said, and Magnus had no idea how he knew, but he knew the Shadowhunter was lying. It was broadcast all over his face. 

“What do you think the other us’s are doing?” He asked out of blue, and Magnus squinted. What the hell was on the other side of that archway?

“I’m sure I don’t know, but since they’re married I imagine they’re happy to be back together.”

Alec winced and Magnus was confused. “What’s wrong?”

“You don’t think it’s weird that a Shadowhunter and a warlock are married…” He sounded bewildered.

“Oh no, that’s totally weird, but they seemed happy enough.”

“The Clave would never allow it, but he still has his runes and he’s still got some position of authority. That's not possible.”

Magnus walked through the archway with Alec right beside him. “Yeah he said he was an Inquisitor and had been head of the New York institute for awhile.”

“That’s what doesn’t make sense, there’s no way the Clave would allow that. The teachings are pretty clear about keeping Downworlder’s separate from Shadowhunters. Are they really who they say they are?”

“Maybe they changed all of that, and I don't know how we would know if they were impostors. Why do you ask?” Magnus shrugged.

“The angels would never allow it.” Alec said with a fierce finality. They were in a section that put them pretty close to the tree, one of its long branches had fallen into this little square. Magnus touched it a little reverently something about it radiated balance and divinity. They were almost where the imprisoned Shadowhunter’s were being kept. Hopefully. But they could pause for just a moment so Magnus could examine the power coming from the tree.

Magnus, with his hand on the tree, looked at Alec inquisitively. “And how would you know?”

All of a sudden magic flowed through him. Not his own magic, that was still shamefully depleted. Magnus watched as a pair of angels drug Alec down a hallway. He watched as they strapped him to a table. He watched them cut out the Shadowhunter’s runes. He watched the man scream until his throat could make no more sound. He watched them heal his wounds and begin the process over again. Magnus fell to his knees. 

Looking up at Alec with tears in his eyes. Alec rushed forward to help him, but the magic wouldn’t let him. Not until he’d seen all of it. Every minute of the angels ravaging his body. The names they’d called him, the horrific things they’d done to him, and how none of it had really broken him. Magnus was in awe. He was standing in front of a man that could still breathe, could still live in a world where that had happened to him.

“Magnus please, let go of the tree.” Alec tried to reach out again, but it appeared the magic wasn’t quite done with Magnus.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as the magic whisked him to a bright sunny room. Magnus knew he was looking at the stone walls of a castle, having been in enough of them in his life. A man, a blonde very well put together man in a pink polo shirt and tan slacks, stood in front of an Angel that Magnus couldn’t make out. 

“You can’t do this Adam, it will destroy the worlds, all of them.” The angel said despairingly.

“Have you ever thought that was what was meant to happen. The fates don’t know and can’t predict every move that’s made, nothing is written until they write it, and they don’t know. So this might have been the plan all along!”

They were having a heated discussion, Adam looked furious and slightly crazy, his blue eyes manic, when a shout from the angel shattered the vision. “Never.”

Magnus fell away from the tree into Alec’s arms. His hands running over Magnus looking for damage. “Magnus…” He said intently.

“I’m fine, really, just winded.” Magnus wrapped his own arms around Alec, and was completely taken aback by how comforting it was to be in this man's arms. They barely knew one another, but sitting here, wrapped up together, he had never felt so….safe. For the past 20 years he had to jump at every shadow, but here, surrounded by danger, his hands were as steady as they’d ever been. 

Alec pulled back first and put a hand on his face, brushing his fingers over his cheek, “what was that?”

“Nothing bad, I’m fine. Just an unfamiliar power trying to get to know me.” Deciding not to share what he’d seen just yet, he wanted to think about the vision. Had it been true? Was it a red herring? It was a lot to absorb, and Magnus was about to push away and stand when Alec’s hand shifted, fingers trailed along his cheek, his thumb touched Magnus’ lip and he let out a sigh. Magnus couldn’t breathe, his pulse was pounding in his ears, and butterflies exploded in his stomach. Alec was staring at him in fascination, like his world would end if anything had happened to Magnus.

Their eyes met. Magnus didn’t telegraph the movement, but he felt the twitch in Alec’s hand as he leaned forward. Asking with his eyes and his hesitancy if it was okay. Magnus met him half-way and everything around them faded.

Magnus had been in love, he’d kissed people he loved, but never in his life had he been kissed like he was precious. Desperation, passion, comfort, he could remember feeling all of those things from his partners. But Alec. God, Alec’s hands touched him like he was cherished. Something in the way his hands shook as he reverently moved them over Magnus’ face. His eyes were shining. 

It was as good as Magnus had anticipated that it would be. Alec kissed like he wanted it so badly but was afraid someone would come around the corner and snatch Magnus away at any moment. He kissed like he wasn’t sure he could even have this, like he wanted nothing more in the world than to have his lips against Magnus’.

Magnus groaned and ran his fingers through Alec’s short hair, dropping them to his shoulders and clenching his hands around fistfuls of his shirt drawing him closer. He was never letting this man go. He was strong and so very solid under Magnus’ hands that Magnus was desperate for more. Magnus nibbled at Alec’s lips and opened his mouth inviting Alec inside. A deep whine came from the Shadowhunter when he jerked away from Magnus like fire had ignited between them. He was scrambling back saying sorry over and over, looking frantically around himself like Raziel would appear at any moment and destroy him, he drew his weapon and rolled to the side in a crouch.

Magnus was about to be pissed, very very very pissed off, when it dawned on him. Alec was crouched down looking for threats. Oh he’d scrambled away from Magnus like his ass was on fire, but he’d almost instantly pulled a weapon and turned to look for enemies. 

Magnus had seen what the angels did to him. He’d heard the things they said. Damn them he thought, Alec truly thought that if he gave into his desire they’d kill whomever he was interested in. He thought the angels were going to come back and kill Magnus. 

He stood from the ground and approached Alec.“Darling, we should get moving.” It wasn’t a perfect strategy, but pretending like nothing happened and allowing Alec the dignity of choosing how to move forward was all Magnus could give him. And perhaps, when this was all over, he’d call upon his father and work out a way to put down the angels who hurt Alec. 

Alec looked up at him, and Magnus felt his resolve harden as a shutter came over the Nephilim’s eyes and he stood up. A soldier. Shrugging off his emotions and hiding behind the mask of his profession. Magnus knew a thing or two about that, so he turned and headed further into the garden. 

8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8 8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8 8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8 8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8∞8

**Limbo**

**Alt!Alec**

Alec cursed himself up one wall and down the other as he led Magnus through the maze. How could he have been so utterly fucking stupid. He knew there was a target on his back, and no matter what had been said to him since, in his world the angels would have come out of the sky and ripped Magnus’ heart out.

They’d done it before.

He’d seen Jace’s incredulous face when he said he feared for Magnus’ life. He’d seen just how seriously Jace was not taking him. Angel’s didn’t bother with trifling things like who a Shadowhutner slept with. 

But the angels he’d gotten tangled up with….they did. Magnus wasn’t his first kiss. He wasn’t even his tenth. After his visit with the angels he’d gotten drunk in a bar and let a stranger touch him. That stranger had died because of him. And he’d promised himself he would never put anyone else at risk like that. Not again. 

But Christ it was so hard to resist the beautiful man behind him. He was considerate, he was kind, he was powerful, and he was about the most gorgeous thing he’d ever seen in his life. Not to mention, he had some sort of dream about their future together and a magical tattoo connection. It was….exhausting. The weak coward that lived inside of Alec, the one his mother had always known was there, wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole and let the world just pass him by. 

No responsibilities. No Clave. No angels. No fighting. No Magnus. Nothing. He just wanted nothing. He wanted it all to go away.

His thoughts so consumed him that it took him a minute to realize they’d reached the center of the garden. The huge tree was surrounded by clouds of white smoke. Flowers bloomed by the thousands in species that Alec had never seen and in every color imaginable. Magnus didn’t stop, he just kept walking forward brushing his fingers across the flowers as he went. Alec shook his head, grateful that Magnus hadn’t blasted his ass for that kiss. He knew he was confusing the warlock, but Magnus wasn’t pushing and Alec was beyond relieved.

“So what now?” he asked Magnus. 

Magnus looked over his shoulder, and Alec had to take a deep calming breath. God he was gorgeous and Alec needed to focus on something else.

“I think I need to touch the tree again.”

Alec blinked. “No.” the word was out of his mouth before he could stop himself, and Magnus’ reaction was….predictable.

He raised his eyebrow and placed his palm on the tree trunk, pure defiance in every line of his body. His eyes closed and he fell to his knees and Alec cursed. Bloody stubborn warlock. Alec was such an idiot. He rushed forward to see if a magical barrier had surrounded Magnus, and sure enough he couldn’t get to him. Damnit. Alec rubbed the tattoo on his chest, it was burning slightly.

Inching as close as he could get to Magnus before the barrier pushed him back, he sat down and watched. Magnus’ face was relaxed, either he had expected the pain and wasn’t reacting to it, or this time was different. His body was tense, but his breathing was steady.

“He’ll be alright you know.” Came a cheery voice behind him. Alec whipped around and pulled his blade and tried to get to his feet all in the same few seconds. 

Before his eyes could really absorb the situation, he was demanding “Who are you?”

It was a woman, a very short woman, with black hair in a pixie cut. She was cute, tiny, and delicate. She scrunched up her nose and tilted her head, “I’m Eve.”

**Author's Note:**

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> 


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